Braised red cabbage is fairly commonplace these days, especially popular at Christmas or any time confit duck makes an appearance it seems. Well this is the white version. Similar in preparation to its red counterpart, it has an air of sauerkraut about it, and includes smoked pancetta and thyme for flavouring rather than the mulled spices that are often a characteristic feature of the red version.
Although the cooking time exceeds the three-hour mark (thus ruling itself out of the mid-week meal category for anybody that isn’t home by 5pm), it’s pretty much left to its own devices.
It goes very nicely with piggy things, like a roast ham or sausages and pairs well with potatoes, roast onions, black pudding and blue cheese.
The recipe here is written for one whole cabbage, a small one mind; half a white cabbage hanging around in the fridge for weeks on end is no use to anyone and so I suggest you do the whole thing and freeze the surplus.
Ingredients
(Serves 8)
1 small whole cabbage (weighing around 800g)
3 x small onions, finely sliced
2 x small Bramley cooking apples
3 x tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 x tablespoons white sugar
1 x teaspoon sea salt flakes
100g finely diced pancetta
1 x small bunch of thyme (tied together with string)
2 x bay leaves
8 x juniper berries (lightly crushed)
Preheat the oven to 150⁰C.
Finely slice the cabbage and the onions and toss together in a large bowl with the vinegar, sugar and salt.
Finely slice the apple and add it to the cabbage, tossing it in thoroughly.
In a flame-proof casserole dish large enough to take all the cabbage, fry off the bacon until cooked through but not coloured or crispy.
Tip in the cabbage, tuck in the thyme and add the bay leaves and juniper. Finish with a couple of knobs of butter on top and a good grinding of black pepper.
Cook for an hour before removing it from the oven and giving it a good stir. Repeat after the second hour and remove after the third. Taste for seasoning, adding a little more salt or pepper if necessary.
If not serving immediately, reheat the cabbage on the stove top in a pan with a splash of water.