Demo Day - Bacon & Cabbage

Bacon & Cabbage

by Chef John N Carminati

Ingredients

3 strips of your favorite bacon, sliced thick Julianne
1 medium cabbage diced
1 medium bok choy diced, separate top from bottom
½ bunch chopped mustard greens

Method

1. In a large saute pan, over medium high heat, render out bacon until it starts to crisp up.
2. Add in cabbage and cover for about 10 to 15 minutes, mixing often.
3. Add the bok choy bottoms then cover again for about 5 min.
4. Add mustard greens and bok choy tops, wait 5-7 min longer and taste.

This was a very simple dish to cook, one you can come back to every so often while you’re working on other things in the kitchen. The best part of this dish (aside from its amazing flavors) is you only need four ingredients. The bacon was just salty enough, and gave off just the right amount of fat to help steam out the cabbage and wilt down the mustard greens to our desired consistency.

I wanted to use mustard greens so much in this dish to prove they’re not as scary as most people think. In fact, mustard greens are off-the-charts high in nutrition and so flavorful - once you bite into them, you definitely know you’re eating a mustard.  Please don’t be afraid of the unknown.  Lessons are learned though trial and error.  You’ll never know if you don’t like something until it’s on your plate.

Keep in mind, and I’ve said this many times before, recipes are always open to interpretation by the one behind the knife.  In your kitchen, you are the chef. There are times during my demos or at home, cooking for my girlfriend, when something in a recipe just doesn’t feel right for the moment.  Change it up a little, and the dish will take on a life of its own.

Food is good.

Parsley & Tomato Salad

At Urban Oasis, we have many different varietals of tomatoes.  Varying in size, color, sweetness and acidity, these different characteristics all play a large part in food paring.  I really wanted to showcase the quality of the farm’s fresh vegetables, so I chose a simple lemon juice dressing. Bringing in the green flavor of celery leaves and the earthiness of parsley gives this salad just what it needs to hold its own on any fine dining room table.

This tomato season has had its ups and downs.  The plants put up a fight early on, but due to farmer Dave’s amazing knowledge and skill, we ended up growing more than we ever hoped for.

Thanks, Dave!

During the demo, I wanted to show these tomatoes off a bit.  Not because I happen to work out there (and think they’re the best ever),  but because I love food. I also love sharing my passion with others, and this was one way to do just that.



Parsley & Tomato Salad

by Chef John N Carminati




Ingredients

1 1/2 cup halved tomatoes
1 cup packed picked parsley leaves
1/2 cup celery leaves
Juice from one large lemon, roughly 5 tbsp
2 1/2 tbsp walnut oil
Red onion, julienned
8 nasturtium leaves chiffonade and chopped stems
Salt to taste

Method

1. In a large mixing bowl, add tomatoes, onions, nasturtium stems and lemon juice.  Let the flavors marry together a few minutes.
2. Add nasturtium leaves, oil & salt.  Toss together and serve.  
3. Garnish with nasturtium flowers.