Pork Lovers Cabbage

Yes, I said cabbage! I had a lot of cabbage left over, and I hate wasting food. It was begging me to use it. I pondered for a few days. How can I turn this cabbage into something that Ben will eat? I know! I'll add bacon! Well, I added pancetta instead because they had some from Pine Street Market at the Oakhurst Market and I just had to try it. Pancetta is simply Italian bacon. It is still pork belly meat that is salt cured. I served this as a side dish to a pork loin. I was not disappointed and neither will you.

Need

2 slices of thick cut bacon or pancetta
1 small red or green cabbage (I used both)
1 tbpn ghee or butter
1 tspn bacon grease (only if you use pancetta)
1/4 cup chicken broth
2 cap full apple cider vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Prepare

1. Heat the ghee in a large saute pan.
2. Cut the slices of pancetta into small pieces.
3. When the ghee is melted, add the pancetta and cook for 4 minutes on medium heat.


4. Core the cabbage and cut the cabbage into strips as if you were making a coleslaw.
5. Add the cabbage to the pan with pancetta.
6. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and cover for 2 minutes. This will steam the cabbage to help it cook down.


7. Take the lid off and toss in the bacon grease. If you do not have any, skip this step.
8. Stir occasionally allowing the cabbage to cook down until it is soft and wilted.
9. Liberally salt and pepper to your taste. The more pepper the better in my opinion!
10. Lastly, add the two cap fulls of vinegar.
11. Mix and serve.



I pan seared a small pork loin to go with the cabbage. I marinated the loin in a variety of dry herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil. While the cabbage was cooking, I browned the pork in olive oil on high heat with a whole glove of garlic added to the pot. Next, I set the burner to medium heat and put the lid on the meat for about 15 minutes. Using a meat thermometer, I checked the temperate of the meat at 147 Fahrenheit.

USDA food preparation guidelines advise 145 degrees Fahrenheit.