have to go a long way to find a better use for red cabbage than pickling it for a week with dried chillies and black peppercorns in a mix of distilled and cider vinegars, and wolfing it down for breakfast layered on toasted sourdough, topped with rollmop herrings (ok, a personal viewpoint) but this sounds good.
BRAISED RED CABBAGE
1 medium red cabbage, shredded
1 large onion, chopped
I large Bramley apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped (Bramley works best for this because of its sharpness and the fact that it cooks to a pureé)
½ oz / 12g lard
Salt
Pepper
Approximately 5 tbsps / 75ml cider vinegar
Approximately 2 oz / 50g soft dark brown sugar
Water
Melt the lard in a large saucepan. Add the onions and fry gently to start to soften them. Add the apple and continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Add the red cabbage and stir well to mix. Then add seasoning, and about half the cider vinegar and sugar. Add a little water and cook gently over low to medium heat. Stir from time to time to prevent it sticking and burning, adding a little more water if necessary. After perhaps half an hour taste and add more cider vinegar and/or sugar as necessary. You want the cabbage to have a sweet and sour taste, but not too sweet and not too sour. The harshness of the vinegar will mellow as it cooks.
Continue to cook over low to medium heat until the onions and apple have cooked down. In total the cooking time will be around a couple of hours. The cabbage will then be thick and dark purple. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Serve with roast pork or poultry, or with sausages. This also makes a good addition to sprouts for next year’s Christmas Dinner!
It is quite a flexible recipe. Try adding grated pear and/or beetroot with the apple. You can also add some ground cinnamon or mixed spice. If you prefer you can use a tasteless oil, such as grapeseed or groundnut, instead of lard. However, this does affect the texture.
It freezes well.
ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES WITH PEAR
A selection of root vegetables - red onions, potatoes, celeriac, turnips, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes etc (whatever is in season and you have to hand)
Pears, preferably the hard warden-type cooking pears
Rapeseed oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Cloves of garlic, whole
Preheat the oven to Gas 6 / 200°C / 180°C Fan.
You will need 1 or 2 large baking trays ------- you will need to spread the vegetables out to cook in a single layer.
Prepare the vegetables according to type. Peel all the vegetables apart from the potatoes, pears and garlic. Halve or quarter the onions depending on size. Cut the vegetables into approximately 3cm / 1.5” rough cubes. Halve, quarter, then core the pears. Cut into pieces the same size as the vegetables. Dry all the pieces with kitchen paper then toss all the vegetables, pear and garlic in the oil and season with black pepper. Do not add salt at this stage as this will make them soggy. Spread them out on the baking tray/s. Place in the oven and cook, turning from time to time until browned - about 40 minutes. Add salt just before serving.
This is good on its own topped with crème fraiche, or served with roast pork or sausages.
Try adding smoked paprika, roughly crushed cumin and coriander seeds, or rosemary and thyme leaves to the rapeseed oil.
Monica Askay
January 2019