There are as many options to stuff a cabbage as there are to stuff a bird, but in a celebration of Canadian harvest it makes sense to start with barley.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
Turkey doesn’t have to be the star of the Thanksgiving table. If you’re looking for a veggie-based, feast-worthy centrepiece, a whole stuffed cabbage has all the elements of a celebratory fall dish: it’s large (perfect for feeding a crowd), it’s a bit of a spectacle and it’s stuffed.
During the fall, winter squash is a common candidate for stuffing, but so is cabbage – one of the more affordable items in the produce section. With so much in season, there are as many options to stuff a cabbage as there are to stuff a bird: You could use a traditional onion-bread-sage stuffing, or cooked grains and ratatouille, a thick stew of tomatoes, peppers, onions, eggplant and zucchini, or cooked lentils, sautéed mushrooms, onions, garlic and rosemary.
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Or you could try a kind of pilaf: This version is made with roasted fall vegetables and barley. You can substitute any grain, but as we’re celebrating the Canadian harvest, barley is one of the country’s most significant crops and makes a wonderfully chewy, nutty, nutrient-dense addition.
Cabbage Stuffed with Roasted Vegetables and Barley
Measurements are flexible here and will depend on the size of both your cabbage and bowl. I roasted a sheet pan of veggies and used them along with about 2 cups of barley to fill the leaves of a large cabbage in a standard 10-inch Pyrex bowl, but feel free to use any ovenproof bowl that is well-suited to the size of your cabbage.
- 1 large green cabbage
- vegetables suitable for roasting, such as carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, rutabaga, kohlrabi, squash, peppers, onions, sweet potato and fennel
- canola, olive or other vegetable oil, for cooking
- salt, to taste
- 2-3 cups cooked barley or other grains, such as rice, farro or quinoa
- a drizzle of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, or vinaigrette, to taste (optional)
- crumbled feta or blue cheese or grated aged cheddar (optional)
- chopped fresh herbs, to taste (optional)
- 1-2 tbsp butter (optional)
Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
If you have a whole winter squash to roast and would rather not peel it, poke it several times with a sharp knife and roast whole, on a baking pan or sheet to catch any drips, for 45 minutes to an hour, until very tender. Set aside to cool.
Prep the rest of your veggies: peel, trim and cut them into about 1-inch pieces, or a size that will allow them to roast at approximately the same time. (I sometimes hold back onions, peppers and other fragile veggies to add to the sheet about halfway through the cooking time.) Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with oil and shake the pan or use your hands to coat the veggies well. Sprinkle with salt and roast for 30-45 minutes, stirring once or twice, until tender and starting to turn golden on the edges. Set aside to cool slightly.
Combine the veggies and barley and if you like, season with a squeeze of lemon juice or drizzle of balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette, and/or a bit of crumbled or grated cheese and/or some fresh herbs. If you roasted a whole squash, once it’s cool enough to handle, break it open, scoop out and compost the seeds and chop or scoop as much of the flesh into the barley mixture as you like.
Generously oil a 10-inch Pyrex or similar ovenproof bowl. Cut the core out of the cabbage and gently peel away 4-5 outer leaves, starting from the stem to keep them intact. Place each leaf into the bowl rounded edge down, with the stem end up at the top of the bowl, overlapping each leaf to cover the bowl completely. No need to press them to the side of the bowl – you should wind up with a cabbage-leaf bowl within a bowl.
Fill it with the veggie-barley mixture and place 2-3 leaves on the surface, tearing them into large pieces if needed. Place a heavy (such as cast iron) skillet or other baking dish on top to weigh it down, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cabbage is golden on top. Remove from the oven, remove the skillet and if you like, place a tablespoon or two of butter at the edge of the bowl so that it melts and runs down into the bowl, coating the surface of the cabbage.
Let it stand for 15-20 minutes, then invert onto a plate to serve in wedges – the filling will spill out as you cut it, like a cornucopia. Serves 6-8.