Bacon-wrapped cabbage with apples

A flavourful and unique snack or lunch!

I have always loved the combination of cabbage and apples, with or without bacon. This warm cabbage salad with bacon and apples is a real crowd-pleaser; so is this purple cabbage and apple salad.  I recently overheard someone talking about how their toddler would eat literally anything if it was wrapped in bacon and I thought, why not cabbage? Perhaps she’ll see this recipe and give it a whirl with her tiny taste tester (my grown-up one gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up). If you wanted to prepare this dish more quickly, you could use prosciutto instead of bacon as it will cook faster. You could also par-cook the bacon-wrapped cabbage wedges for about 20 minutes then remove from oven and let stand at room temperature for half an hour (or refrigerate for longer) before resuming the cooking process. As always, the dish will cook faster in an air fryer, if you have one – just be sure you have ample room to lay the cabbage wedges out in a single layer.

Ingredients

• 1/2 small or medium-sized cabbage
• 1/2 apple, cored and thinly sliced (no need to peel)
• 6-8 slices bacon
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) maple syrup

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 400F.
• Cut cabbage in half, reserving one section for a future use.
• Cut a notch in the bottom of the cabbage half to remove the tough core. Slice the cabbage from top to bottom into 6 wedges (small cabbage) or 8 wedges (medium cabbage) of uniform thickness.
• Lay 1-2 apple slices on one cut edge of each cabbage wedge.
• Tightly wrap cabbage wedges with bacon, pulling the bacon to stretch it a little so you can cover the cabbage as completely as possible. Place wedges on a parchment-lined rimmed baking tray and secure bacon in place with two toothpicks.
• Lightly brush the top side of the bacon-wrapped cabbage wedges with half of the maple syrup.
• Bake for 25 minutes then use tongs to carefully flip the wedges over. Brush again with remaining maple syrup. Bake 20-25 minutes more until bacon has achieved desired level of crispiness.
• Remove tray from oven and carefully remove toothpicks. Serve hot.

Makes 6-8 portions.