Half-fried Savoy Cabbage w. Bacon and Apple

Up until last week we've had 30 degrees and lots of sunshine in mid October. This is not really typical autumn weather and my cooking has reflected this. Still haven't made my pot of judiones beans yet which is usually happens when the weather change. This, however, is probably my first more wholesome dish after a long summer of light food and cold soups. My in-laws have a vegetable garden with some highly fertile soil and have had an abundance of fresh produce. I'm not a big cabbage eater (apart from the occasional coleslaw), but as they gave us a couple of homegrown savoy cabbage heads, I thought I'd try and cook something different with them. Here's the result, trust me, it's delicious:

You need:

1 savoy cabbage, or any other cabbage will do. Sliced.

150g bacon

1 apple for cooking (also from their garden)

1 tbsp rice vinegar (or a bit less of white wine vinegar)

1-2 tbsp crème fraîche, or just normal cream

2-3 tbsp sunflower seeds

Salt, pepper

Start by frying the cut bacon at medium temperature to release some of the fat.

Add the sliced cabbage, fry it for a couple of minutes.

Cut the apple into smaller cubes or sticks. Add to the cabbage. Fry for 5 minutes.

Add crème fraîche and salt and pepper. Heat the dish through, but don't overcook the cabbage. You still want it to have some bite to it.

Finally, taste for salt and add some sunflower seeds on top. Great autumn side dish.

Blackberry Pie

Hold on, no wait. Not the phone, the actually berry (or rather an aggregated fruit). This is from a harvest I made of wild blackberries on an outing during the summer, which I quickly paid the highest honor these berry can receive by baking them in to a pie. I think I picked some 200-300 grams but I'm not sure. If you still have blackberries on your blackberry tree/bush, don't pick them now, because according to old folktales the Devil has pissed on them after the 11th of October. The dough is my standard dough which you can see how to make on my (quite similar) blueberry pie recipe. You'll need:

Pie dough:

280g flour

1tsp salt

150g cold butter

5-5 tbsp ice cold water

Filling:

Your harvest of blackberries (let's say +/- 250g)

5 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup of sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla powder

Juice of 1/2 a small lemon

Here's my harvest, not too much but someone had beat me to the tree so I had to do with what was left. Put the oven at 220º.

Mix the berries with the sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and lemon. Crush about half the berries with a fork and mix it well together so you don't have any lumps of cornstarch. Set it aside while you prepare the dough. This will allow the sugars to dissolve and mix in with the juices of the berries.

Use about 2/3 of the dough for the base and prick some holes at the base of the pie and pour the filling in. Shake it a bit to make sure it's well distributed.

Roll out the remaining dough and make a "lid" for the pie. Prick some more holes in the lid.

Bake at 220º for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 170 and continue baking for about 20-30 minutes or until the crust is golden. Let it rest for at least half an hour before cutting into it. This will allow the starches to set and your filling won't run out. Serve warm, for example with a bit of ice cream on the side.