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| Bacon, Savoy Cabbage and Barley Casserole |
This humble looking and sounding cabbage dish is one of the nicest bits of comfort food I have cooked up in a while. It started, as new recipes so often do, with a need to utilize raw ingredients in the refrigerator before their use-by date. But this turned out so well that it’ll be on the menu many more times this winter, I’m sure.
What is it about bacon? You add a little bit to an otherwise unexciting dish and Wham! There you are with a flavor-packed forkful that can be highly addictive. That’s how it was with this casserole. We both started off with a couple of reasonable scoops. And then took a little bit more…and a bit more…until we finally agreed that it was pointless to fight it, and divided the remainder between our two plates, scraping every crisp bit off the sides of the dish and nearly licking our plates clean.
Definitely try to find Savoy cabbage for this. If you can’t use Brussels sprouts or Chinese cabbage sliced thinly. Regular white cabbage may be a little too tough for this dish.
Bacon, Savoy Cabbage and Barley Casserole
Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F. Butter or grease a 2 liter/2 quart casserole dish
1/2 cup/ 1.25 dl pearl barley
1 cup / 250 ml boiling water
4 strips of bacon, cut into 1/4″/ 1cm pieces
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cups / 9 dl thinly sliced Savoy cabbage
1/4 cup/ 1/2 dl cool water
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves / 1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup/250 ml milk (oat milk or rice milk would make a good substitute)
Combine the barley and boiling water in a small bowl. Let it sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
In a frying pan over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it begins to crisp. Add the onion and cook until the onion begins to soften; about 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and 1/4 cup water. Stir; then place a lid on the pot and allow it to cook for 5 minutes until the cabbage is steamed and softened. Remove the lid, and allow it to cook until most of the water has steamed off.
Combine the eggs, milk, thyme, salt and pepper in a small bowl. When the cabbage has finished cooking, pour in the barley and its water over the cabbage and stir well to combine. Pour the cabbage- barley mixture into the casserole dish and spread it out evenly. Pour the egg mixture over the top and smooth out the top. Place it in the oven to bake for 40 minutes or until the barley is cooked to all dente.
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side dish.
Necessity required I change the recipe a bit – don’t we all?
I had only 1 thick slice of bacon so I chopped 3 or 4 ounces of pork and browned it with the bacon.
I had no savoy cabbage so I used 50% Napa Cabbage, 25% Broccoli, and 25% Cauliflower. The stems were sliced 2-3 mm. thick. I added 1 carrot similarly sliced for a color splash.
To the skillet, I added 1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika, 1 tsp. chicken granules, and 1 large clove of garlic pressed. I reduced the amount of salt to factor in salt in chicken granules.
To the milk/egg mixture, I added 1 cup of cottage cheese and 1 heaping tsp. of Kraft cheese powder. I stick blended until smooth. I then added about 2 or 3 ounces of grated sharp cheddar cheese. To make sure dish set, I added 1 Tbsp AP flour.
After placing in buttered dish, and after milk/cheese poured over top, I sprinkled top with a couple of Tbsp of Parmesan Cheese for flavor and for a nice brown top crust.
My wife absolutely LOVED the dish. In fact, she has asked that she have enough for work tomorrow and enough to share with a co-worker. That means, she really liked it.
Don’t take offense at the changes I made but my wife is a “cheese freak” and the first thing she asked me was the type of cheese I had used. The cheese and the little bit of bacon and pork added just enough flavor to make it a very satisfying dish. While it tasted “rich”, it will still be relatively low calorie and loaded with fiber and other good things. Thanks so much for taking the time to create and post this recipe.
Hi James! Indeed we do all change the recipes a bit to make them “ours” – as we should do! Great to hear other members of the cabbage family stood in so well for the savoy cabbage – I’ll have to try those variations too. I am not at all offended by the changes – I think the variations sound great :). I’m very happy that you and your wife enjoyed it so much.
– Ann