Braised Apple and Bacon Cabbage
One of the most underrated autumn vegetables, cabbage has good doses of fibre and vitamin C and tastes great cooked with sweet apples and a few strips of smoky bacon. The taste is even better the next day after all of the flavours have blended. Cooking time 27 minutes Preparation time 10 minutes Makes 7 to 8 servings
Ingredients
- • 1 medium-size red cabbage
- • 2 large apples, such as Spy or McIntosh
- • 2 onions
- • 2 bacon strips
- • 10 oz (284 mL) can undiluted chicken broth or 1¼ cups (300 mL) chicken bouillon
- • 3 tbsp (45 mL) red wine vinegar
- • 2 tbsp (30 mL) brown sugar
- • 1½ tsp (7 mL) salt
- • 3 bay leaves
- • ½ tsp (2 mL) dried thyme leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Discard any discoloured or damaged outer leaves, then cut cabbage into quarters. Discard core from each piece. Slice cabbage quarters into thin strips. They will measure about 11 cups (2.75 L). Peel and core apples, then finely chop. Slice onions in half. Place cut-side down on a cutting board and slice into thin strips. Stack bacon strips, then slice into ½-inch- (1-cm-) wide pieces.
- Set a large wide saucepan over medium heat. Add apples, onions and bacon. Cook, stirring often, just until apples and onions begin to soften and bacon starts to brown, from 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in broth, vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir in cabbage and bay leaves. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is done as you like and most of liquid is absorbed, from 25 to 45 minutes. (If you like cabbage crunchy, test for doneness after 20 minutes.) Remove from heat. Discard bay leaves. Taste, then sprinkle with thyme, if you like, and stir in. (We added thyme at the end of cooking because we liked its punch of flavour.) Serve immediately. Cabbage will keep well, covered and refrigerated, up to 3 days. Great with pork or lamb.