Braised red cabbage

Joe and Claire are hopefully up again later this evening.  I'm working in the morning (4.45am alarm!  Yuk!) but The Woo has promised them a freshly baked croissant breakfast!  They won't get here until late so The Rock Chick and I are having the Samuel Pepys pork chops, roast potatoes and red cabbage I've blogged about earlier.  I've told you about the chops but here's my braised red cabbage recipe if you fancy trying it.  Great with roast duck, good sausages and lamb too.  I've added chopped apple this evening as it's with pork but cherries would work well with the duck.  With lamb or beef I would tend to leave any fruit out but it's really up to you either way.

You need a fairly large pan as the red cabbage, although it quickly melts down, starts off taking up loads of room.

So, in the pan I gently cooked two small and finely sliced red onions in about a glass and a half of red wine.  To this was added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin and about half as much ground coriander.  As the onions started to soften in the wine I added a healthy lug of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar.  Don't worry at this stage whether it's too sweet or too vinegary as you can adjust the balance later on and it's very much a question of personal taste as anyway.  With the pork chops I make it a little sweeter as the accompanying sauce is very sharp but with duck a bit more vinegar helps to cut through the fat.  Once the onions were fairly soft (about 20 minutes on a very low heat) I added half of a large, finely sliced red cabbage.  You can do more if you want as this cabbage goes really well with cheese and biscuits once it's cooled down, keeps in the fridge for a good three or four days and freezes well too.

This was then cooked on a very low heat with the lid on for about an hour, stirring occasionally to get the reduced wine well and truly soaked up.  I tasted a couple of times to check for balance and this is when you can bung in a bit more sugar or vinegar if required.  I've done this so many times I had it just about right so left it alone.  Once the cabbage is lovely and soft you can either serve or just turn off the gas and reheat when required.  With this dish I think it's better to overcook rather than undercook it as you do want it all meltingly soft and unctuous.