Healthy eating is big news, but we are simultaneously being told that the nutrition in food is plummeting as soil is overworked from intensive farming.
My response is to cook with as many whole ingredients as possible – organic, where I can – since we now know that essential nutrients come from good soil. The brassica family is a good place to start: naturally full of vitamins, minerals and fibre – that discreet, understated element that keeps our guts in such good check. These leafy greens are also great-value, so you can feed many for a lot less.
Prep 15 min
Cook 50 min
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
150g cooking chorizo, cut into half-moon slices
4 garlic cloves, gently smashed
2 hispi cabbages, outer leaves removed and halved through the stem
1 x 550g jar chickpeas or 2 tins (200g dried, if you are cooking your own)
400g tin plum tomatoes, rinsed
1 tsp smoked paprika
200ml rioja or other full-bodied red wine
A few sprigs thyme
Creme fraiche, to serve
1 handful parsley, roughly chopped (optional)
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/gas 6. Warm half the olive oil in a large frying pan that can comfortably fit the cabbage wedges, and add the chorizo and garlic. Fry for three to five minutes, until the chorizo begins to release its oil, then scoop the chorizo and garlic into separate bowls, leaving the oil in the pan.
Add the cabbage cut side down in batches and fry in the oil until the wedges begin to colour. Transfer to a baking tray cut side down, then repeat with the remaining cabbage.
Pour the chickpeas, reserved garlic, tomatoes, paprika, remaining two tablespoons of oil and wine into the pan and season generously. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon, pop in the thyme and simmer for five minutes to reduce, then pour the mix all over the cabbage. Season, cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until the cabbage is tender; add the chorizo in the last five minutes of cooking, so it can gently warm through.
Spoon on to plates, dollop over the creme fraiche and sprinkle generously with the parsley, if using.
And for the rest of the week
To make this stretch further, shred the cabbage, braise it with the rest of the ingredients and serve with nutty, short-grain rice. For a more local flavour, swap the chickpeas for British-grown pulses from companies such as Hodmedod.
