Better than you might think: cabbage and bacon braised in cider

Yes, ragazzi, Annalena has been busy.  She did much in the kitchen this weekend, and  she will sign off with this last dish.

Unlike the beet soup, Annalena HAD planned to make this braised cabbage.  Along the way, however, she learned some things.

The recipe she worked from, called for a cabbage weighing 1.5 pounds.

Try to find a 1.5 pound cabbage, ragazzi.  Cabbage is very dense, and Annalena bought the smallest one she could find, at the farmers market.  It weighed 3.5 pounds.    And as things turned out, rather than double the rest of her ingredients, she kept everything else as it was.  She's glad she did.   Here's what she got:

This is a fun dish to make.  It requires your attention, but not much else.  If you love cabbage (which is true of Guyman and Annalena ), and you would like something a little different, try this dish.   Ready?    Ok.  You need the cabbage, some bacon, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt.

First, as you saw above, you need a 3.5 pound cabbage.  You can  most definitely use a smaller one, or one that is a little bigger, but be careful with bigger.  See, what you're going to need to do is prepare wedges of the whole cabbage.  This is a DENSE vegetable, and you have to be careful with your knife.  Make sure you use a big, heavy one, and PLEASE BE CAREFUL.    Annalena had a near scare with hers, and he doesn't want you to be in the same fix.  Pull off any nasty looking outside leaves

Cut your beast in half, and then cut each half into thirds.  Try to keep a bit of the core with it, so that you have - duh - wedges.  If you don't, don't worry.  

Put that aside for a minute, and get a medium sized onion (no leeks this time!).  Cut it down the middle and then cut it into long strips.  You'l see what Annalena means in the pictures.  You will also want a half cup of chopped bacon.  This is about 3-4 strips.  If you go over, who is Annalena to argue?  It's bacon, right? 

Get as big a frying pan as you have, and put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in it - enough to cover the pan.  Then, put your cabbage wedges down in it, fitting them as best you can.  You're going to want to let the cabbage sizzle for 3-4 minutes on each side, until you get:

You'll want that kind of color on both sides.  Now put the cabbage aside for a bit, and add the bacon to the pan.  No need to add more fat, and lower the heat a bit.  After you've cooked the bacon for about five minutes, add the onions, and cook, keeping everything moving, for about ten minutes:

(you see what Annalena meant about the strips of onions, right?).  Season this with salt at the end.  Add a half cup of apple cider vinegar to this, and raise the heat.  Cook for 3 minutes or so.  Add 2 cups of unsweetened apple cider,  and then get the cabbage back in the pan, again, doing your best to get it all in there

The apple cider is going to be your braising  liquid.  Cover the pan tightly,  bring the heat down, and let this cook away for ten minutes.   After that ten minutes,  turn the cabbage over

Cook this all for another ten minutes, and then move the cabbage , and any other solids you can, out of the liquid.  Bring the heat up, and cook for another five minutes.  This reduces the sauce.  

If you are so inclined, (Annalena is), add a tablespoon of butter to enrich the sauce, and pour it over the cabbage.   And  you get:

Not too difficult, ragazzi, not too expensive, and good beyond what it should be, for the work involved. 

Today, carissimi, Annalena has given you three winter dishes, all of which will more than reward your work.  Give them a try, and let her know how they work for you.  She is eager to hear.