Ace of Kings

I've already mentioned our lovely January King cabbage - today I finally got around to using it, in a recipe that has been slowly forming in some deep, reptilian part of my brain for ages. I love cabbage, and always enjoy it most with plenty of good meaty juices to soak it right through, so baking it with sausagemeat seemed like a good idea; thankfully I was not wrong. This is in no way an elegant dinner, but good family fillers are what we cooks need most, I feel. Believe me when I say that if this can fill my Hubby up, it'll satisfy even the heartiest of appetites.


Sausage & Cabbage Bake

As always, this will only be as good as the ingredients you put in. A nice dark green cabbage with large leaves (Savoy would be just as good as January King, I've no doubt) and some quality coarse sausages will make this into a real feast.

1 cabbage, shredded
1 onion, halved and sliced
fresh thyme leaves
800g sausagemeat
500ml hot chicken stock
100ml single cream
grated cheese (I used a mixture of Cheddar and Parmesan)

Mix the cabbage, onion and thyme together in a big bowl. Press half of this into the bottom of a large, deep, ovenproof dish or casserole. Make a layer on top of this with all the sausagemeat, then top with the rest of the cabbage mixture. Mix the hot stock and cream and pour this over the cabbage. Cover the dish or pan and bake at 160°c for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, top with a thin layer of grated cheese and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes.

There are some lovely juices in the bottom of the pan when this has cooked so, not wanting to waste them, I think the dish is best served with some bread. I didn't have time today to make a proper loaf (this was nothing noble; I went to playgroup with James, had lunch with a friend then went out again for coffee with same friend and others). Instead I whipped up a batch of these wholemeal scone wedges while the bake thing was in the oven. You can, of course, use a cutter to cut out 'proper' scones if you'd rather, but this is a faster, dare I say lazier, way to approach things.


Mustard and Herb Scone Wedges

The amount of mustard you use really depends on your constituency; because I'm cooking with the children in mind, I err on the 'safe' side.

150ml milk

1 tsp lemon juice

200g strong wholemeal flour

1-3 tsp English mustard powder
3 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
30g butter
1-2 tsp dried mixed herbs


Mix the lemon juice into the milk and set aside. Sift the flour, mustard and baking powder into a bowl. Add the salt, then rub in the butter (fine breadcrumbs, yada yada...). Stir in the herbs, then use as much of the milk-and-lemon mixture as you need to bind it all into a soft dough. Pat it out to some kind of roundish shape and cut into 8 wedges. Dust with flour and bake at 200°c for 15 minutes or so.