You know what I love about cooking vegetables - you can always do something different with them. I’m pretty guilty of doing thing the same thing over and over and over, but sometimes inspiration hits and something new comes along.

I’m ridiculous when it comes to food in magazines and scan through everything that I come across, whether it’s an actual food magazine like Delicious, something from a supermarket or even the food section of my mum’s magazines - I’m not even kidding. People have started questioning whether I’m obsessed (it’s food, the answer is clearly yes).

Anyway… I was thumbing through Tesco’s latest offering lately and despite disregarding virtually all of it their red cabbage caught my eye. It had apple, orange and a little parsley in it and I thought why not, it would be the perfect vegetable accompaniment when I had people over at the weekend. I mean, what goes with ham better than apple? And a citrus note with the veg would go beautifully with the marmalade glaze (glazed ham recipe here). Wonderful.

So I din’t quite have what the recipe called for and really I could have made about half the recipe (I’ve been eating the leftovers for days, it’s been marvelous) but if you’ve got about 8 people coming over for dinner on Christmas Day then this would be great as an alternative to those controversial sprouts.

It takes a while to ensure that it’s not crunchy, but it’s totally worth it. If you’re very adventurous you could even add a bit of cinnamon or some grated nutmeg in at the last minute. I didn’t think it needed it (between the apple, cider vinegar, parsley and citruses it had enough flavour, but I would definitely try it next time, subbing them in for the parsley).

Red Cabbage with Apple

This recipe is based on one I saw suggested in a recent Tesco magazine, but it’s been altered slightly since then. It works very well as an accompaniment to a ham or as part of a Christmas buffet. Serves 8 people.

Ingredients

1 red cabbage
1 apple
4 tbsp cider vinegar
1 lemon
1 orange
1 handful parsley
3 tbsp boiling water

Directions

Use a sharp knife and shred the cabbage quite thinly - you don’t want any parts to be more than about 1cm in width. Place it into a large, oven-proof roasting tin. Quarter the apple and then slice it as thinly as you can, add it in to the red cabbage.

Before the apple has a chance to brown, add in the cider vinegar and the water, then add in some salt and pepper. Shake the roasting tin from side to side, mixing the cabbage, apple and liquids together so everything is covered and evenly distributed.

Using a peeler, take the rind off the orange and the lemon, scattering on top of the cabbage mixture. Then juice the orange and pour this over the top.

Cover tightly in tinfoil and put into the centre of an oven at 190ºC - leave it to roast for about half an hour. After the roasting, take it out of the oven and see whether the cabbage has softened, if it hasn’t put it in for another 10 minutes or so. If it has, remove the tinfoil completely and stir with a metal spoon, sprinkle half of the parsley over the top and return (uncovered) to the oven for another ten minutes.

Once it’s fully cooked, scatter the remaining parsley over the top and serve immediately.

by Craig
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