Everyday Epicurean

Tonight being Friday I had some extra time to cook as the children don’t need to be up early for school tomorrow (it being the weekend and all). I also had half a red cabbage waiting to be used. Now although we’re fairly big fans of saurkraut, there’s no way I was going to make that for dinner (the recipes I have call for a maturation time of about 3 weeks, so it’s not something to whip up in an hour or so). Therefore I hit The Silver Spoon for inspiration and came across a baked cabbage recipe, which called for Savoy cabbage, but I figured it’d work with red cabbage just as well.

Having already modified the type of cabbage, I went further and added leeks, potato, bacon and fresh basil leaves. The result was indeed quite tasty, and well received by all but the fussy three year old.

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As you can see, the red cabbage and green basil leaves creates an interesting dish.

h2. Ingredients.

* half a red cabbage
* 1 leek
* 2 potatoes
* 5 beef (or other) sausages, cut into thirds (to form short sausages), alternatively, use real short sausages
* 2 bacon rashers
* a quantity of grated cheese (mozzarella, parmesan), I used frozen “pizza” cheese, enough for 4 layers.
* about 200ml of cream
* the leaves of one branch of basil
* salt and pepper
* 2 Tablespoons of tomato paste
* some white wine
* some red wine
* about 5 Tablespoons of water

h2. Method

Three quarter fill a large saucepan with water and add 1 to 2 Tablespoons of salt. Bring to the boil.

Cut out the core of the cabbage, wash and slice into strips. Add the cabbage to the boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes (covered). Drain and plunge the cabbage into cold (or iced) water for 30 seconds or so. Remove, and drain well.

Slice the leek lengthwise into quarters and then chop finely. Sauté in olive oil in a fry pan. Add a good splash of white wine, salt and pepper and reduce until the leeks are tender and the liquid has almost completely evaporated off. Transfer to a bowl.

Add a little more oil and the mini-sausages to the fry pan. Fry over medium-low heat. Once browned on the outside, add the tomato paste, water and red wine with a little salt and pepper. Stir regularly to prevent the tomato sauce from burning. Once the sauce has reduced to half it’s volume turn off the heat.

Slice the potatoes thinly and microwave in a steamer or just a bowl with some water for 3 minutes to soften (or par-boil them)

In a deep casserole dish (I have a square deep corningware dish), place a little oil for greasing, then add a layer of cabbage. Sprinkle with some of the leek, and some cheese. Place a layer of potato over that, then arrange six of the mini sausages over that.
Repeat, but on the middle layer, place the bacon (rind removed, cut into thirds) over the potato, and use 9 sausages.
Repeat the bottom layer for the top, topping with one final layer of cabbage.
Place the basil leaves on the top layer, cover with cheese, and then pour the cream over the top.

Cover the dish with a lid (or foil) and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Uncover and bake for a further 5 minutes to crisp the cheese.

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