Angela's Cabbage Pie
Just in time for St Patrick's day! I saw a random Irish chef on Chopped make something like this and it sounded deelish, so here's my version! It is rich and very satifying - as well as cheap to make! Éirinn go Brách!
Servings 6 Servings
Equipment
- 1 medium casserole dish
- 1 Large skillet
- 1 2 qt saucepan
Ingredients
- 1/2 head Green Cabbage, halved and sliced thinly about 4-5 cups
- 1/2 Onion, halved and sliced thinly about 3/4 cup
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced used several places
- 1 small Carrot, julienned about 1/3 cup
- 1/4 cup small diced pancetta optional, but great in this dish
- 1 Tbl Apple cider or white wine vinegar red wine is fine too
- 1/4 cup Fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 Scallions, thinly sliced on bias
- 1 pack Instant potatoes, garlic flavour, as directed A small pack (2 cups) and I use half 1/2 1/2 rather than all water. OR make your own: about 2 cups very smoothly creamed potatoes.
- 1 cup shredded Irish Cheddar cheese Spring for the real thing! Used in 3 places.
- 5 Tbl butter used in cabbage, bechamel and potatoes
- 1.5 cups Half and half used in potatoes and bechamel
- 1.5 Tbl flour for bechamel
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep all the veg and assemble in bowls. This will save you time in the cook.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 1 Tbl butter with pancetta, cook until pancetta gets a little crisp. Add onions, 1/2 the garlic, carrots and cabbage. Gently cook until cabbage is soft. Add S/P to taste. (If this gets too dry, add just a bit of water. Don't use too much heat, the veg should not brown.)
- When veg is soft, check S/P, and add vinegar. Put them in the casserole and set aside.
- In a 2 qt saucepan, put the water and half n half mixture for the potatoes over med hi heat - watch to prevent boilover. Add half the remaining garlic. (Idahoan packs call for 2 cups liquid.) SEE NOTES!!
- In same skillet, over med heat, put another 2 Tbl butter and flour to make a roux. Stir for a couple of minutes then add half the scallions and parsley and the remaining garlic. Add about 2/3 cup of half n half to make a bechamel sauce. This should be fairly tight, but not like glue, use more half and half if needed. When bechamel has cooked for 2-3 minutes, add 1/3 of the Irish cheddar to create a mornay sauce. As soon as the cheese melts, kill the heat and add back in the cabbage and stir to incorporate the sauce. Check S/P. Put this mixture back into the casserole dish.
- Water for potatoes should be at the boil - turn off and add a Tbl of butter and potato flakes, whisk. Add 1/3 Irish cheddar and remaining parsley and scallions. Adjust liquid to make a fairly stiff creamed potato.
- If you want to be fancy, you can use a round tip and pipe the potatoes from a pastry bag - make sure they are loose enough! (star tip will clog with the veg). Otherwise, just spread on top of the cabbage mix in the casserole dish.
- Finally, put the remaining Irish cheddar on top of potatoes and bake in oven for about 15 minutes. Then turn on broiler and broil until you see browned potatoes and cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
YES I use instant potatoes here. I tend to use them for any dish where they are a topping, such as Shepherd's Pie. I use the Idahoan small bag, which makes about 2 cups. I like the lightness of the instant, and they will pipe out a pastry bag nicely. In this particular recipe, since there is parsley and scallions, a star tip will not work, but a round tip will. You can certainly make your own creamed potatoes here if you wish.
Do get Irish cheddar. It has a nice sharp taste!
This recipe makes about 3-4 cups, a small casserole. It will double just fine if you'd like a bigger casserole. The only thing I'd not double is the butter. It will get super greasy with all the cheddar, so just use enough butter to get the veg cooked, and make the bechamel (1:1 butter to flour for bechamel). The bake time will be 20-25 mins for a large casserole.
The bake time is simply to warm up all the ingredients that have been sitting while you finish the dish. The important part is to broil the top for the browned bits. You can use a torch if you'd rather.
This is not a pretty dish, but it is SO tasty! Perfect for a rainy night! Have a nice stout with it!