White cabbage salad with apple, bacon and a cream dressing

Trim the outer leaves off the cabbage with scissors until you reach the pale globe in the middle.

Detach the white leaves, keeping the pale ones and leaving the hard heart.

Cut the hard rib out of each leaf all the way round with a knife and keep only the soft part.

Rinse the leaves in water with a little vinegar and dry them.

Stack the leaves, roll them up, hold them tight and cut them into a very fine julienne, as for a chiffonade.

Dress white cabbage well ahead rather than at the last minute -- unlike a lettuce, the dressing tenderises it while it stands.

Make the dressing: salt and pepper first, dissolved in a small tablespoon of vinegar, then the same amount of oil.

Add 50 ml of cream and whisk -- whisked cream gives the dressing an almost whipped texture.

Pour the dressing over the julienned cabbage in a bowl and work it through with a fork and spoon until the cabbage is coated and no dressing pools at the bottom.

Store the dressed cabbage in the fridge while the bacon and apples cook.

Pan-fry the cut bacon, then take it off the heat and drain it on a kitchen towel to lose the excess fat.

Melt butter in a clean pan -- do not cook the apples in the bacon fat -- and caramelise the apples on high heat until they take a little colour, then turn the heat off.

Mix the warm bacon and apples through the cabbage, keeping some apple back for the plate.

Finish with a sprinkle of chives and a little lemon juice, and give it a last stir.

Plate a small amount and set the reserved apple on top.

For a homelier version use more bacon, more apple and more dressing, and a hint of walnut.