Minced Meat with Bacon and Cauliflower (in the Oven)

A simple and fun recipe for baking chicken or other minced meat with bacon, onions, spices, and cauliflower. The dish can be served as a meat dish, with a side dish, or self-sufficient.

Cook: 2 hours

Servings: 3

Ingredients

• Cauliflower – 600-650 g (1 head of cabbage)
• Chicken fillet – 250-300 g
• Bacon – 75 g
• Cheese – 70-100 g
• Bulb onions (Crimean or ordinary) – 1 pc.
• Garlic – 3-4 cloves
• Yogurt, sour cream, or mayonnaise – 100 g
• Egg – 1 pc.
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper – to taste
• Smoked (or regular) ground paprika – to taste
• Sugar (optional) – 2 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil (optional)

Directions

1. Cut 75 grams of bacon into small cubes.
2. We also cut one medium onion into small cubes. I have a Crimean onion, but you can get by with the usual one.
3. We send the chopped bacon to be fried in a dry frying pan and fry until half cooked (everyone determines the level of half-cooked for himself).
4. When the bacon is half cooked to your taste, add the chopped onion to it and fry it almost until the bacon is ready (it will still be baked in the minced meat, so “almost”). If there is not enough fat from the bacon for frying the onions, add oil.

   

5. If you are using regular onion, then when it becomes transparent, add a little sugar to the pan, stir and continue to fry: the onion in sugar and bacon fat will caramelize deliciously.
6. A minute before the bacon and onion is ready, add the grated garlic to the pan and stir. After that, remove the pan from the heat and put its contents in a bowl (the excess fat must be drained) to cool down. The bowl should be such that 250-300 grams of minced meat can still fit there and you can mix everything well and freely.
7. We take one chicken fillet, process, cut it into pieces, and put it in a blender. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with paprika to taste (I have smoked, but you can get by with the usual one). Add the egg and make the minced meat. It turns out to be quite liquid.

   

8. We spread the minced meat with bacon, onion, and garlic and mix well.
9. Take the baking dish. I have an old frying pan with a diameter of 23 cm. The mold can be greased with oil, or you can cover it with non-stick parchment, which is not greased with anything. We spread the minced meat in the form and distribute it well. You will get a rather thin layer of minced meat.
10. If you take a mold with a smaller dia, then the layer will be thicker, the minced meat will bake longer and stay juicier inside, and less cabbage will fit on it. It will be rather a meat dish that will need to be accompanied by a side dish – it also has the right to life. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
11. Ahead of cauliflower weighing 600-650 grams (this is the weight of the entire head of cabbage, not just the inflorescences) is divided into small inflorescences. (Frozen cauliflower can be used.)
12. We stick the resulting cabbage pieces into the minced meat tightly to each other over the entire surface.

    

13. Grease the cabbage on top with sour cream, yogurt, or mayonnaise. Salt and sprinkle with paprika. We send minced meat with cauliflower to a preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes to an hour. It all depends on your oven and how much you want to steam out the juices from the dish.
14. Towards the end of baking, rub 70-100 grams of any hard or semi-hard cheese on a coarse grater. 10 minutes before the dish is ready, we take it out of the oven, sprinkle with cheese, and return it to the oven. You can use convection.
15. Minced meat casserole with bacon and cauliflower is ready.

    

Bon, appetite and don’t be afraid to experiment!