From Serafina: Savoy Cabbage, Bacon, Mushroom Sauce RECIPE. Fabulous
Savoy Cabbage, Bacon, and Mushroom Sauce (Long Cooking)
**Taken from Lidia’s Family Table / Lidia Bastianich 2004. It is the recipe cooked up for us by Serafina as mentioned in the previous post.
8 Ozs Thick-cut bacon or prosciutto ends (including fat and lean)
1 lb firm mushrooms, mixed types
2 lb head of savoy cabbage
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
7-8 cloves Garlic – larger the better
½ tsp dried peperoncino pepper flakes – or to taste
1 tsp Salt
1 cup or more, simple Vegetable Broth
Use a 14” sauté pan with high sides, or dutch oven.
Cut bacon into 1” pieces. Slice mushrooms 1/8 “ thick…should have about 6 cups. Trim off tough discolored, or loose leaves from cabbage; slice it in half or quarters, and cut out hard core. Slice cabbage into shreds about 1/3” thick; you should have nearly 4 qts.
Pour oil into pan, strew in garlic and bacon pieces. Cook over med. Heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, as bacon renders. Don’t let ingredients get too crisp or brown….. Add pepper flakes during this cooking time, toasting it in a hot spot for a minute before stirring in.

**That’s how it looks at the start. By the end, it’s simply a rich dense sauce inviting in looks, aroma……….
Pile all cabbage and mushrooms into pan; sprinkle salt all over. Stir a bit, to begin mixing vegetables w/oil, bacon, & garlic. Cover pan, turn down heat slightly, and let vegetables heat & begin to sweat for 3-4 minutes, then stir again. Cook, covered, and stir every couple minutes —it will get easier as vegetables wilt – until everything is mixed well.
Continue to cook, covered, for about an hour or so as cabbage and mushrooms continue to shrink and soften. Stir every now and then, adjusting heat so everything is sizzling and steaming but not darkening or sticking. Add ½ cup or so of broth or water to pan whenever vegetables seem too dry.
Uncover pan and cook for 45 minutes or longer, stirring frequently and moistening the sauce w/broth or water at intervals. Adjust heat to maintain the slow and steady concentration of cabbage. Taste for salt, and add more if needed. When cabbage shreds are completely soft and there’s about 1 ½ quarts of sauce in pan, remove it from heat.
Use sauce immediately if you want. Store it in refrigerator for a week or freeze for use within several months.
GOOD WITH: Penne Pasta, Gnocchi, Polenta, Risott, grilled meats.
**NOTE HERE: AS long as this cooks, most of the ingredients are rendered into a lovely sauce, yes, a bit softy-chunky, but don’t wonder if something’s wrong if you no longer see cabbage / mushrooms pieces…….. / mark
That’s part of the meal Serafina served us our first night in Alameda. I kept asking for seconds for two days.























