“These sweet brassicas are a delight to cook in a pot with some butter and seasoning, but the flavour you get from these tender cabbages is also astonishing when charred on a griddle or a bbq. It’s ok if they look overly charred, it adds such a lovely flavour. The wild garlic sauce is a brilliant way of making this dish sing. The crispy chicken skin is optional, but lovely.”
Serves 2
Prep time: 20 minutes; cooking time 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
1 medium-sized hispi cabbage, outer leaves removed, quartered
1 large handful wild garlic
1 tablespoon toasted hazelnuts
1 tablespoon grated hard cheese, like a strong cheddar
200ml good extra-virgin olive oil
Skin from 1 chicken
Good salt and pepper
A few wild leeks, blanched
1 egg, soft-boiled for 4 minutes, cold
METHOD
Heat the oven to 160°C / Gas Mark 3
Season the chicken skin and rub all over with a little oil. Lay flat between 2 baking trays and bake in the oven until crisp and golden, about 45 minutes. Set aside.
Season the quartered cabbage and place cut-side-down on a moderately hot griddle. Cook until charred, about 10 minutes, before flipping over to cook the other cut side. Turn the heat up and down as you cook and season as you go along.
Make a pesto by placing the cheese, hazelnuts, 75ml of oil and a third of the wild garlic in a liquidiser. Season and blitz until a paste forms. You may need a little more oil.
Rinse out the liquidiser and use it next to make a sauce. Add the remaining oil and wild garlic plus a pinch of salt and blitz until the oil turns a vibrant green. Remove and pass through a fine sieve. Clean the liquidiser and add the egg and seasoning. Blitz the egg, and as it’s blending trickle in the wild garlic oil to make a sauce with the texture of mayonnaise.
To serve, arrange 2 pieces of cabbage on each plate and top with the wild leeks. Drizzle over the pesto and wild garlic sauce. Garnish with shards of crispy chicken skin.