What’s in season: Red Cabbage
No winter festivities should go by without red cabbage. It is so bright in colour and mellow in taste if prepared properly. This Christmas I decided not to follow any written recipe, but just follow my senses and tastes to get what is considered to be one of the traditional dishes at Christmas. I knew I would need a sharp sauce, so I used a 260g jar of cranberry sauce. I used 2 large cooking apples for sweetness and softness. I used a large onion, for savouring the dish. A cinnamon stick and half a teaspoon of ground cloves. My family are not really into sharp flavours, so I left out the star anise, ginger and chilli. Oh, and a bit of Balsamic vinegar, to stabilise the colour and avoid a grim blue cabbage effect at the end of the cooking session.
I used a stainless steel pressure cooker rather than a cast iron pan which seem to react in a strange way with the ingredients, making them end up in odd colours.
The result was the best ever, which confirmed a lesson of older days: written recipes are for inspiration, really. When cooking, you need to follow your instincts and make what you and your loved ones prefer.
The good thing about braised red cabbage is that it can be cooked in advance, in large quantities (difficult to make small quantities, if you use a large cabbage or 2-3 medium ones), then kept in the fridge and spooned as and when you need it, served hot (smaller portions reheated), or cold.
