You often see cabbages the size of a basketball, and I’m sure these are fine if you have pigs to feed, or perhaps if you dislike your neighbours and are lucky enough to own a small trebuchet. But. Around this time of year you will often see small cabbages, barely larger than your fist, and these are glorious things. The white ones are a little sharper, and very much the Secret Ingredient in a good minestrone or cassoulet. Here’s what to do with a red one as a side dish.
- one small red cabbage
- one red apple
- one red onion
- 250mL red wine (or 125mL wine, plus the juice and zest of an orange)
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, plus any other spices you fancy: mace, nutmeg, et cetera
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 clove, crushed
- 30mL vegetable oil, maybe more, maybe a knob of butter
You’ll need quite a large pan, as the cabbage is bulky to begin with.
- chop the stalk off the cabbage, remove the outer leaves, and slice fairly finely, but doesn’t matter if you’re not precise
- coarsely grate the apple, including the peel, avoiding the core
- dice the onion, and fry in the oil until soft
- add the cabbage, and stir fry on a fairly high heat until it softens up
- add the sugar, spices, apple and wine
- bring to the boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer
- stir occasionally until the liquid reduces into sticky goo, and then turn off the heat.
This is a fairly forgiving dish and, if you use a fairly heavy pot, will stay warm whilst you’re doing other things.