Baked Cabbage with Bacon

A head of cabbage and some leeks (among other things) showed up in the farmbox last week. I have a pretty good set of recipes for cabbage, but the leek can be a bit confounding. A quick search on my Epicurious iPhone app turned up a dish containing both of these underappreciated veggies, plus bacon, touting it as a traditional Irish dish (baked cabbage with bacon). We're part Irish and all bacon here at the Commissary, so I tackled this recipe with relish (so to speak) one evening as a main course to go with some prefab biscuits. There isn't much to the recipe, really - you basically fry the bacon, add the cabbage/leek, saute, steam, throw it in a pie dish with some browned breadcrumbs on top and bake for a bit. Vegetables, bacon, bacon grease - what's not to like? It's not exactly heart-healthy, but it is tasty and gets better with age (the breadcrumbs seems to soak up grease over time, acting a bit like kitty litter). Next time I make it, I'll probably cut down on the breadcrumbs from 1.5 c. to 1 c. or less.