Good Grub...Crispy Bacon Cabbage...

Inspired by a competition on the blog lovethegarden.com I made the mid-week dinner with a little more care and attention than I might usually.

It is fair to say that the sproglets arrive at the table hungry in this house. We don't have a snack after school, as they don't finish till 5:30pm so dinner needs to be delivered prompt when we get in at 6pm. My trusty oven is generally on timer during the week and last night was no exception.

Having locked up the flock of chickens and transported Archie, the baby rooster, and his two adopted sisters to their protected coop, we entered the house. The aroma of crispy seasoned chicken thighs (sorry chickens!) greeted cold noses. The chicken thighs were surrounded by chunky potato wedges and garlic both of which we grew ourselves last season and harvested last July.

Everything was cooked and the oven was off, all I needed to do was cook the cabbage.

I put on the water to boil in my 2 tier steamer and put on the lid. Next I heated a wide non-stick frying pan and when the pan was hot I placed 6 slices of parma ham on to cook, adding a little olive oil. By now the steamer was almost ready and so, taking a lovely fresh Savoy cabbage I halved it and removed the stalk and then cut centimetre strips from the rest watching the ham so it didn't burn.

After rinsing the cabbage under cold water I added it to the steamer trays, no salt required. Timer on for 8 minutes.

By now the parma ham was lovely and crispy on both sides and was cooling on some kitchen roll. While I waited for the cabbage to cook I chopped the ham into little pieces and added a knob of butter to the pan juices. I emptied the softened savoy onto a pretty bowl and poured over a couple of tablespoons of the pan juices and then sprinkled over the ham.

Personally I could have had the cabbage as a main course, especially helpful to my Weight Watchers diet but at least I resisted the crispy chicken skin which the sproglets divided!

Try it. It was a delicious dinner.