Bubble & Squeak & Stuffed Cabbage Leaf Recipes

Cabbage is in season, grown locally at Foot’s Farm in Chidham and should be part of your regular shopping at this time of year.  The gin cabbage is a firm family favourite (thanks Mum), but stuffed cabbage leaves and bubble & squeak are both superb ways of getting the best out of this versatile vegetable.  Both recipes are idea for using up leftovers, and you only need to use the recipe as a guide, adding other vegetables, or using kale or cavolo nero instead of cabbage. You can stuff cabbage leaves with anything you like, either veggie or meat-based, but pork is always a good partner.

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Ingredients: Serves 4

• 1 Savoy cabbage
• 1 big onion
• minced pork meat (250g)
• 1 teaspoon of sweet ground paprika
• 1 tablespoon of sugar, olive oil, salt and black ground pepper

Method:

• Separate and clean the outer cabbage leaves. Prepare a large pan with boiling salted water and drop the leaves in for 1 minute. Refresh in a bowl with water and ice cubs. Drain and reserve.
• Clean and cut the rest of the cabbage (1 cm. dices) and boil in salty water for 10 minutes aprox. Drain and reserve.
• Chop the onion and fry in a saucepan with olive oil at medium heat until it turns golden, then add the minced pork. Stir and fry until the meat gets golden and add the cabbage. Stir a bit more, add some salt, black ground pepper, paprika and sugar. Stir and remove from the heat.
• Preheat oven at 180 ºC.
• Lay the cabbage leaves on a clean surface and fill them with 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Roll them, sprinkle with olive oil and place in baking pan in the oven for 10 minutes.
• You can add a cheese or tomato sauce to go with them, season and eat.

Bubble & Squeak Recipe (serves 4)

• 50g/2oz butter
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 400g/14oz cooked chicken, duck or ham, torn into pieces
• 200g/7oz roast pumpkin, cut into chunks
• 100g/3½oz leftover stuffing
• 8 leftover roast potatoes, cut into chunks
• 5 rashers leftover bacon, chopped into large pieces
• 200g sliced cabbage or Brussel sprouts

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the red onion until softened.
2. When the onions are browning, stir in the remaining ingredients. With a fork, mash the potatoes and pumpkin, distributing evenly to bind the meat.
3. Add the cabbage or Brussels sprouts and cook through for 15 minutes, adding more butter if needed. (If you only have leftover cooked Brussels, you can add these, but cook for about five minutes.)