Chou à la Normande

Cabbage is as great a stand-by in France as it is in Britain. Perhaps even more so. I think it was a French writer who pointed out that cabbage should be cooked very quickly or very, very slowly. In between lay disaster. Normandy recipes tend to be slow, with plenty of time to mellow. One recipe I have instructs you to blanch the cabbage in boiling salted water, then drain it carefully. Then it goes into a heavy pot with a large knob of butter and a litre of milk, to be gently cooked for an