I decided to tackle the red cabbage last night. I like red cabbage a lot - the sweet/peppery, crunchy, colourful juiciness really does it for me. But I hardly ever buy it as a whole cabbage always seems like a lot to deal with. But it had survived a few weeks in the fridge quite happily - I should really do it more... In all it was about 3lb of cabbage so I made a couple of things with it (not least because the whole lot would have overflowed my only lidded baking dish...).
Braised red cabbage
This felt like the right thing to do - nice and wintry (almost christmassy) flavours, I'd never done it before but found the recipe in Delia's veggie collection - there is no one I'd trust more with a holiday classic when feeling a bit rusty in the kitchen than her.
2/3 a 3lb cabbage
1/2 a huge onion, chopped into small pieces
1 large apple, cored and chopped into small pieces
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 a nutmeg, freshly grated
salt and pepper
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
~10g butter
Heat oven to 300F.
Remove and discard the outer leaves from the cabbage. Cut the remainder into quarters and remove the hard stem. Shred as finely as you can. Prepare the apple and alliums.
Put a layer of cabbage into a lidded baking dish. Add a layer of apple and onion. Mix the garlic, sugar, spices and seasoning and then add a layer of the spice mix. Repeat until all in. Add the vinegar and butter, put on the lid and put in the oven.
Cook for ~ 2 1/2 hours, checking and stirring a couple of times during that time.
Red cabbage salad
1/3 a 3lb cabbage, prepared as above
1 tbsp onion, very finely chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 tbsp peanut butter
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Put the shredded cabbage, onion and cranberries into a bowl and mix. Put the remaining ingredients into a small bowl and mix with a fork until well combined, to make the dressing. Add the dressing to the cabbage and mix well. Put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight so that the flavours and juices can meld.
Both are good. For some reason I thought peanut butter, cabbage, cranberry and acid would be a good combination and they are - very more-ish. The braised cabbage is nice and comforting and seasonal, although I love the raw texture of cabbage so much it does seem a bit of a shame to cook it.
No comments:
Post a Comment