Archive for November, 2009

28 Nov Red Cabbage and Green Apples

After making gallons of apple sauce and apple butter, and loaves and loaves of apple bread, I remembered a recipe for Braised Red Cabbage with Apple, originally passed along to me by a cousin, but found again in Peter Berley’s The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. Apples aren’t the center piece, but just add another layer of sweetness to the dish.  If you want it even sweeter (if the apple, honey, and red onions aren’t enough), use balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar. I also like to toss a handful of chopped walnuts in at the end.

Nutritionally speaking, the cabbage in this dish is a nice complement to apples (for more about the nutritional beauty of apples, go here). In short, cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable — cousin of broccoli, dark leafy greens, brussels sprouts — which are credited with significant phytonutrients that may protect against certain cancers. Specifically, cabbage provides significant amounts of fiber, vitamins A and K, folate, potassium, and manganese — vitamins and minerals we need all year long, but especially good in winter for keeping our immune systems humming.

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

2 T olive oil
1 large red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 t honey
1 t caraway seeds
1 t sea salt
3/4 C water or vegetable broth
1 small to medium red cabbage
1 large Granny Smith apple
1/3 C chopped walnuts

Quarter and core the cabbage, then thinly slice (some people submerge the sliced cabbage in cold water for a little while, maybe as long as it takes to slice the onion and apple. No one has confirmed why to do this; I’ve made this dish both ways and haven’t notice a difference). I like the apple cut into matchsticks, so it mimics the length of the cabbage slices, but I think shredding the apple or cutting it into chunks will work fine, too.

Heat a large saute pan (medium heat), add olive oil and saute onions, honey, caraway seeds and salt until onions are soft (less than 10 minutes). Add cabbage, apple, water and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. If water evaporates too fast, add more to keep cabbage from burning.

When cabbage is soft (but not too mushy, unless you like it that way), uncover (any extra liquid will burn off pretty quickly), toss in walnut pieces.

Last night, I served the cabbage and apples with sauteed bitter greens and warm polenta. Between the sweetness of the cabbage, the bitterness of the greens and the textures of the polenta — creamy but also that soft grit that wakes your mouth up — my mouth was totally satisfied. (Sorry no pictures of the final plate — I was too hungry to stop and snap a shot!).