Cabbage with Bacon

I get bored with eating the same thing fairly easily, so I'm always looking for new vegetable recipes. I love cabbage and I love bacon, so trying this recipe was a no-brainer. I really liked how the fatty sweetness from the onion/bacon combination caramelized the cabbage. Yum!

Cabbages are great because even the organic ones are cheap (this one was $1.99) and they're filling and  good for you. Cabbage with Bacon is a natural as a side dish, but it makes a nice main dish, as well.

Cabbage with Bacon

2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 onion, peeled and chopped 
¼ lb bacon, cut into lardons 
sea salt 
freshly-ground black pepper 
1 (2 lb) green or white cabbage, shredded 

Heat the oil in a 13” skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and bacon then season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 10 minutes, or until onion is beginning to become translucent. Turn down heat, if necessary, to keep onion from browning. 

Add the shredded cabbage, cover and cook 15 minutes, or until cabbage is softened and reduced by half. You’ll have to stir everything around pretty frequently to make sure the cabbage cooks evenly and the onion and bacon don’t stick. Add more salt and pepper if needed. 

Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish or 6 to 8 as a side 

Adapted from “Cabbage with Bacon” in Hilaire Walden, ed., Traditional British Cooking: The Best of British Cooking, a Definitive Collection (London: Hermes House, 1997).

Download printable version

I thought I was going to need a machete! Paul just took photos and laughed at me.

*****

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