Food Lust People Love: cavolo nero recipes

These Welsh Rarebit Potatoes with Cavolo Nero feature a strong cheese sauce made with hard cider, two mature cheeses, English mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce.

Food Lust People Love: These Welsh Rarebit Potatoes with Cavolo Nero feature a strong cheese sauce made with hard cider, two mature cheeses, English mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce.

There’s a little café in town where we like to go for breakfast. It’s right next to the central market and close to the fish market so we park, enjoy a delightful breakfast and then get our shopping done. My perfect outing.

One of my favorite dishes at Rosie's Café is their Welsh rarebit, a lovely slice of toast heaped with a bitey cheese sauce then popped under the broiler/grill until it bubbles and turns golden. It is most delightful, rich and filling.

I make a similar sauce for cauliflower cheese but never thought to top potatoes with it until I saw a recipe in delicious. magazine. This is my rendition of that recipe, with the addition of the greens.

Welsh Rarebit Potatoes with Cavolo Nero

I use the very handy real bacon crumbles I buy in Costco for this dish but it’s never crispy enough, hence the extra frying step. If your bacon is already cooked extra crispy, you can skip that. Cavolo Nero is also known as Tuscan kale. You can use regular kale if it’s not available.

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g cavolo nero/Tuscan kale

2 green onions, green part only

1/3 cup or 40g cooked bacon, crumbled

1 lb or 450g Jersey royals or other new potatoes, halved if large

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups or 295-359ml dry cider (I use Strongbow Original)

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

Splash Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon English mustard powder (I use Colman's)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 1/2 oz or 100g mature cheddar, coarsely grated

3 1/2 oz or 100g Gruyere or Comté, coarsely grated

Method

Wash the cavolo nero well then remove the hard stalks. (You can discard/compost these or save them for making vegetable stock later.)

Cut the leaves roughly.

I forgot to wash first so I soaked, rinsed and spinned three times after chopping. It is easier to wash the whole leaves so do as I say, not as I did!

Chop the green onions finely and set aside a small amount for garnish.

Use a pot that will fit your potatoes nicely in a single layer, then pour in enough cider to just cover them and the 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Bring to the boil, covered with a lid, then simmer for 15-18 minutes until tender to the point of a knife.

Drain off the cider into a heatproof vessel. You should have about 1 cup or 240ml (if not, make up the difference with water or extra cider.)

While the potatoes are simmering, fry your bacon bits in a skillet till they are extra crispy. Add in the cavolo nero leaves and cook until they are wilted and any liquid they produce has evaporated. These are sturdy greens that take a while to cook. I put a lid on at the beginning, then remove the lid so the liquid can evaporate.

Remove the bacon and cavolo nero to a bowl, leaving behind any bacon fat.

Add the butter to the bacon pan over a medium heat, then add the flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring to create a light roux.

Gradually stir or whisk in the reserved cider to make a smooth sauce.

Mix in the Worcestershire sauce, mustard and cayenne pepper, then simmer for a few minutes.

Add the cheeses and mix until fully melted.

Sprinkle in the bigger pile of chopped green onions.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Put the potatoes in a baking dish or casserole then add in the cavolo nero with bacon. Use a spoon to tuck the greens around the potatoes to create a single layer.

Spoon the cheese sauce over the potatoes and cavolo nero and sprinkle on the reserved chopped green onions.

Bake in the preheated oven until hot and bubbling, about 20 minutes, finishing it off with about five minutes under the broiler/grill to brown.

Serve bubbling hot! This delicious dish is rich enough to be served as a main.

These Welsh Rarebit Potatoes with Cavolo Nero feature a strong cheese sauce made with hard cider, two mature cheeses, English mustard powder and Worcestershire sauce.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 23th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter W. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the W recipes below: