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My spouse, Grace, used to drive to Hudson, N.Y., a full hour from our house, to get their hair cut. To make the trip extra worth it, Grace would time the appointments to bring home a roast chicken from Kitty’s Market, an adorable cafe near the train station there that makes sensational rotisserie chicken.
Kitty’s simple menu includes not much beyond that chicken and some side dishes, including potatoes roasted in the chicken fat (YUM) and a napa cabbage Caesar salad. As much as I looked forward to the chicken and potatoes, the cabbage salad was always the most surprising and delightful thing in our takeout order. I had never had napa cabbage swapped out for romaine lettuce in a Caesar salad before, and I quickly came to appreciate how sturdy and crisp it was, and how well the cabbage stood up to the assertive dressing.
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That salad inspired me to think of napa cabbage not merely as something to make kimchi, a slaw or a stir-fry with, but as a worthy salad green. Today’s recipe for a hearty wedge salad showcases cabbage’s unrivaled versatility.
Get the recipe: Napa Wedge Salad With Chickpeas and Bacon
Share this articleShareOne thing I love about this recipe is a trick I borrowed from … myself. In “Now & Again,” a cookbook I published in 2018, I included a classic iceberg wedge salad recipe. To make it, I first thinly slice a shallot and let it marinate in a simple brine of vinegar, water, a pinch of sugar and a tiny bit of salt. This gives you two incredible things: quick-pickled shallots and a brine that becomes the base of a blue cheese dressing. You just have to whisk some mayo into the brine and stir in crumbled blue cheese. That’s it. That’s the dressing!
For this updated recipe, I swap in thinly sliced red onion for the shallot, because they’re more readily available. (But you can use a shallot if you prefer.) And instead of iceberg, we’ve got wedges of napa cabbage, which are sturdy enough for the creamy, rich dressing, plus extra toppings, including hot, crispy bacon and chickpeas warmed through in the bacon fat. I also include tomatoes for extra acidity and color.
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And if you’d like, add more toppings, such as thinly sliced radishes, thinly sliced scallions, croutons, chopped parsley and/or pickled beets. You can swap turkey bacon for regular bacon or skip the meat all together. In the substitutions and tips below the recipe, I offer suggestions for how to add more flavor to the chickpeas sans bacon (as well as ideas for a vegan rendition of the salad).
Whatever you do, give napa cabbage a chance. Its sturdiness and crunch make it, dare I say, a superior wedge.
Get the recipe: Napa Wedge Salad With Chickpeas and Bacon
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