There are many versions of this recipe in different Venetian cookbooks, most telling you to leave the cabbage suffocated in beef or chicken stock for an hour or two on the stove. I have tried this and although the cabbage tastes interesting it is reduced to an otherworldly pale brown substance that you wouldn’t serve to your enemy. Maybe this method was developed to preserve the cabbage. However cabbage is now readily available so I would rather cook it quickly, preserving the colour and the vitamins as well as the texture. Do try and find lardo di colonnata, which is back fat from the pig that has been pressed and preserved with rosemary and salt. A block of it will last ages in your fridge and it really does give a wonderful flavour to stews, soups and vegetable dishes. It is usually sliced very thinly and it melts even with just the heat of a candle. In this case a pesto, or paste, is made from the chopped lardo, garlic and rosemary and this melted paste is used to fry the cabbage. If you can’t find lardo use good unsmoked streaky bacon.