It’s autumn and truly beautiful outside. It’s also the time of British vegetable abundance during the harvest month of October. I love this simple side dish (though a lot of the time I eat it as a main dish because it’s just so good) as it’s all about the Savoy cabbage, smoked bacon and a good amount of butter to make it melt in the mouth creamy.
Fattened well fed pigs were traditionally slaughtered at the end of the summer to provide meat during the long winter months and persevering pork into bacon is one of the best British foods.
Savoy cabbage is British grown, in season and ridiculously cheap, just 80p for a whole head! The bacon is more expensive, but you could serve this dish to a young family for lunch with some fresh crusty bread (and butter!) and it will still be under a fiver.
Miraculous ingredient: Savoy cabbage (in season), smoked bacon lardons
Savoy cabbage with smoked bacon
Ingredients
20g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
200g smoked bacon lardons
100ml water
Coarse sea salt to season
Method
Place a large dry frying pan (that also has a lid) on low heat to warm up while you prepare the ingredients.
Cut the savoy cabbage into small pieces; slice the cabbage in half, lay one half flat on the chopping board and slice from root to tip in 4 cm strips, then cut the strips horizontally to create large squares of cabbage.
Add all the olive oil and all the bacon lardons to the frying pan. Fry gently for 5 minutes to crisp up the lardons and melt away most of the fat. Once cooked, take the lardons out of the frying pan and leave on a plate for later.
Add all the butter to the pan, leave to melt for 10 seconds and then add all the cabbage and a little salt (¼ teaspoon). Mix well. Add the water and put the lid on. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook the cabbage until soft. Add more water if the pan gets too dry.
After about 10 minutes the cabbage should be soft enough to eat. If there is still some water in the bottom of the pan, take the lid off, increase the heat to high and cook of the excess water. Stir in the cooked bacon lardons and serve.
Preparation time 5 minutes, cooking 15 minutes, 2 adult portions, 2 child portions