Shredded sugarloaf cabbage with burrata and spiced butter

I love this dish. It came about as a mistake, trying to do a version of stuffed cabbage. I use sugarloaf cabbage because of its conical shape, sweet taste and soft texture, but if it isn’t available, you could use a small savoy cabbage. To add a little further edge to this dish, try grating some winter black truffle over it… YUM!

Credit: Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• ½ sugarloaf cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 tbsp salt flakes
• 2 burrata or soft mozzarella
• 40 g (1½ oz/½ cup) fresh breadcrumbs, toasted in the oven until golden
• 2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• 1 small handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, washed and torn
• 1 tbsp dried currants

Spiced butter

• 250 g (9 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• good pinch of cayenne pepper
• good pinch of ground turmeric
• 1 tsp capers, rinsed and chopped
• 1 tsp mustard powder (I use good old Keen’s mustard powder)
• 4 anchovy fillets, chopped
• zest and juice of 1 lemon

Salting time 20 minutes

Instructions

Put the cabbage in a bowl, mix the salt through, then leave to salt for 20 minutes. Rinse under cold running water to wash off the excess salt, then drain in a colander and set aside. 

Combine all the spiced butter ingredients in a food processor. Add a pinch of salt flakes, then blitz until it all comes together. 

Layer the cabbage out over a large serving plate.

Now heat half the spiced butter in a saucepan until it crackles and turns a little brown. Dress the cabbage with the browned butter until it’s all coated. Let sit a minute, then dress again to ensure all the cabbage is coated. (Any leftover butter can be sealed up and refrigerated for several weeks, or frozen for several months to use later.)

Tear the burrata all over the cabbage. In a bowl, quickly mix together the breadcrumbs, pine nuts, parsley and currants, then scatter over the cabbage. Delicious.

This is an edited extract from Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads by Matt Wilkinson, published by Hardie Grant (RRP $49.95), available in stores nationally.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.