Summer (what summer?) is over and the evenings are closing in. On the plus side Heineken Cup Rugby is back and we don’t have to endlessly listen to folks moan about the Irish Summer. Winter has its advantages.
In keeping with a more robust approach to food for shorter evenings I saw Jamie Oliver do this recipe on his Jamie At Home show ages ago, I wrote it down and forgot about it until now. This prototype version doesn’t include the sage he used, has some Gubbeen Lardons instead of Pancetta and cheddar cheese instead of Fontina but the theory is mostly the same.
Ingredients
One head of Savoy Cabbage, washed and finely sliced
One loaf of stale crusty bread. I bought a non-sliced loaf and left it for a few days, you can then slice as thick or thin as you want
350g of grated cheddar and parmesean cheese (a two to one ratio).
100g bacon lardons (I use Gubbeen Lardons www.gubbeen.com)
Four or five anchovies
Two pints of Chicken stock
Extra virgin Olive oil
One knob of butter
Method
Bring the stock to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook the cabbage for six or seven minutes. During this time add the butter and some oil to a warm pan and gently fry the garlic being careful not to burn it. Increase the heat to medium, add in the lardons and anchovies and fry until golden. Maybe you could add some dried chilli flakes here but I have yet to try that. Drain the cabbage and put the stock to one side. Add your cooked cabbage to the bacon mixture and stir well. Remove from the heat.
Slice the bread and toast well (the bread needs to be somewhat firm or it will just turn to mush), when done rub each side with a clove of garlic for flavour. Add a layer of bread to the bottom of a casserole dish, add a layer of cabbage and a layer of cheese. Repeat the bread-cabbage-cheese layers two or three times depending on the size of the dish and finish by topping up with the stock and adding a final layer of bread. Transfer to a 180C/Gas4 over for 30-40mins.
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