“Cooking requires confident guesswork and improvisation – experimentation and substitution, dealing with failure and uncertainty in a creative way”
― Paul Theroux
We talk a lot about support in the Autoimmune Protocol community. Identifying who’s in your corner and there to give you a bit of a boost when you need it; who’s going to walk beside you as you navigate the seemingly endless maze of lifestyle changes; who’s there for you when you have a flare and feeling pretty bloody awful.
David heads up my support team. And, one of the many ways he does this is to cook for us one or two nights each week (and, more if I’m feeling crappy!) He has a growing repertoire of AIP-compliant meals that he draws on, and he has been known to get a little creative when the mood strikes, too.
He’s well versed in the importance of nutrient density.
And, he embraces vegetables. For me!
Today, I’m sharing one of David’s ‘cooks’.
Sausages on Braised Cabbage with Speck
This baby is old fashoned ‘dude food’. I mean – sausages! Can’t get much more ‘dude’ than that!
And the cabbage is slow-cooked in happy fat and some lovely smokey speck – it’s so scrummy and unctuous. And yet, so simple.
This meal is a hug on the plate.
Serves 4
- ½ a large green cabbage (about 1 kg/2 pounds)
- 1 large onion
- 100g/3.5oz speck (or bacon)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons duck or bacon fat
- salt
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar vinegar
- 4 - 6 AIP-friendly sausages
- Remove outer leaves and core of cyour cabbage and then wash and shred. Peel and dice onion. Dice speck.
- Pop olive oil, onion and speck into a large dutch oven casserole dish over a medium-low heat and sauté until onion is translucent and soft and speck has rendered all it's lovely fat. Stir often.
- Add the cabbage and stir to coat with all the lovely fat. When it has wilted a little, add the duck fat. Let it melt and then give everything a really good stir.
- Add a teaspoon of salt and the vinegar. Turn the heat down to low. Stir and then pop on the lid and let all the flavors come together for 45 minutes - 1 hour. Stir every so often.
- Turn on the barbecue and cook your sausages on a medium low heat, turning often.
- Taste cabbage for seasoning and serve with a side of kraut.
We serve our bangers and braised cabbage with a side of home-made kraut.
E N J O Y !
This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable
What brand of AIP sausages do you use?
Jodi – if you are in Sydney, 100% happy pork or beef sausages are available from Feather & Bone in Marrickville.
Thanks for the recipe, Joanna! I can’t find any AIP sausages here in Spain, but we are going to eat it with breakfast patties 😉 Sending you some Spanish (orange and rosemary scent 😉 ) sunshine and energy!
Lara – I LOVE the idea of eating the braised cabbage with breakfast patties. It would go very well with some slow cooked pork, too…
I’ll gladly take that Spanish sunshine and energy. Thanking you! – in return some laughing kookaburra sounds from Australia!