Saturday, July 28, 2012

I cooked: Jamie Oliver's braised cabbage with bacon and thyme

So the other day, we bought a giant cabbage from the supermarket. Usually I would just stir fry it Chinese style but after several meals of stir fry cabbage, we wanted a change.

In conjunction with the "Cook Like A Star" event, I decided to braise the cabbage a la Jamie Oliver (recipe here) with bacon and thyme. This is a good alternative to stir frying it, it does taste healthier as it uses slightly less oil. The smoked bacon gives this a nice flavour, however in the future, I will pan fry the bacon first so that it's more crisp and I think it will further enhance the flavour of this dish. It makes a good accompaniment to both Western or Chinese meal.

Braised cabbage with bacon and thyme


So what is your favourite way of cooking/eating cabbage?




Braised cabbage with bacon and thyme
Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's website
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10- 15 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
300ml vegetable or chicken stock
2-3 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 handful fresh thyme leaves (I used 1 tsp of dried thyme)
250g white cabbage, finely sliced
1 knob of butter
1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)

1.  Place your stock, bacon, garlic and thyme on a hob, bring to the boil and then add your finely sliced cabbage.

2. Mix up, put the lid on and boil on high head for 5 minutes.

3. Turn the heat down to a simmer and continue to cook until the cabbage is a pleasure to eat (for me, this took another 5-6 minutes).

4. Top up the stock if you feel it's reducing too much. Add the butter, olive oil and season to taste. Serve immediately.




This is my third entry for "Cook Like A Star" Blog hop event.


You can view my other Jamie Oliver inspired recipes here:
1. Jamie Oliver's Cracking Burger
2. Jamie Oliver's Chocolate Brownies
3. Jamie Oliver inspired roast chicken 
4. Jamie Oliver inspired chunky mushroom soup with truffle oil
5. Jamie Oliver's American style pancakes with bacon and honey
6. Jamie Oliver's chocolate biscuits with soft chocolate centre 

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here. 

20 comments:

  1. Oooo...with bacon! Yummm!!! Must not overcook cabbage, not nice if too soft. Prefer it crunchy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then you don't like the Indian-style cabbage? Usually those are softer.

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  2. Replies
    1. Haha yes, and a good way of using up my giant cabbage ;P

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  3. hmmm, i'm thinking of what i'd like to pair this with. maybe with some braised pork ribs :D

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    Replies
    1. It may work with pork knuckle too, since it's fairly similar to sauerkraut. (without the tangy flavours)

      Delete
  4. The size of the cabbage must be bigger than a human's head? The chinese version may be using the salted fish to replace with the bacon, hahaha!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it was around 2kg. Cook for one week also still got leftover. LOL.

      I never cook with salted fish in my house, in Malaysia the flies are too scary. Once they smell the salted fish, the whole house will be full of flies!

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  5. looks like a great side to have with some roasted meats!

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  6. Yum! A great partner with a roast :) And everything is better with bacon :)

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  7. We don't eat cabbage at home; can replace with chinese cabbage (ie the long version instead of round? LOL!!)??

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    Replies
    1. Of course can. In fact the napa (Chinese) cabbage is nice when you braise it cos it will make the stock sweet. I think cooking time should be similar.

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  8. This reminds me so much of the something my mum used to make all the time... she had all these crispy bacon in it and cabbage was cooked till tender... will try make this for myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea the first time I made it, I followed the instructions hence didn't try the bacon. But next time I will, so that it's crispy.

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  9. This must be a fanciful way of eating a plain cabbage... with of course Jamie Oliver's style :D So nice to have you cooking and baking with us for the whole month of July... It has been a great pleasure cooking with you :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thanks for organizing the cook-along, it's been lots of fun.

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  10. oh, I have cabbage, a very sweet veggie :)

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