BRAISED RED CABBAGE

It's years since I cooked a red cabbage.  Nick is not keen because he sometimes finds them too vinegary so I don't bother just for myself.   However, it was by now December, Christmas is not that far around the corner so I thought "why not" and decided to give it a go.  Then I started looking for recipes.

A lot of recipes had apple in the ingredients.  I didn't have any apples so carried on looking and found this recipe which didn't include apple and also looked very straightforward.  You simply put everything into a large saucepan and cook it on the hob for a very long time.  No need for sweating the onions separately.  

The recipe uses cider vinegar which  I didn't have so I used the sweetened vinegar called Melfor which I thought might do instead.  Also, in a nod to all those recipes that do include apple I added a couple of tablespoons of the apple compote that contains chunks of apple for the last few minutes of cooking.  (We have it on our cereals and porridge so get through a lot of it.)  Both added to the sweetness I think and it was very tasty.  Everyone had seconds including Nick so it will definitely be on the menu this Christmas.

Ingredients

1 small or ½ a large red cabbage (roughly 900g)

1 large red onion

70g soft light brown sugar

70m cider vinegar or similar

150ml red wine

1 large knob of butter

1 cinnamon stick

2 tblsp apple compote or apple sauce (optional)

Method

Trim the cabbage, remove the core and shred finely.

Peel and thinly slice the onion.

Put all of the ingredients (except for the apple compote) into a very large saucepan and season with salt and pepper.

Heat gently until simmering, stirring often.  Turn the heat right down, cover and simmer gently for 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick or burn on the bottom of the pan.  Remove the lid and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the cabbage is nice and tender.  

If using the apple, stir in just before serving and leave on the hob for a few minutes to make sure it's warmed through.  Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.  Serve hot.

This can be made one or two days before needed.  Keep in the fridge and reheat either on the hob or in the microwave until piping hot.

Serves 6-8, depending on how much you like red cabbage!