Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 medium red cabbage, tough outer leaves removed
- 150g/5½oz (²⁄³ cup) butter
- Sea salt
Stewed apple
- 2 Cox apples, unpeeled, cored
- and diced
- 100g/3½oz (½ cup) butter
- Sea salt
Mustard dressing
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar
- 4 tbsp neutral oil
- Sea salt
To serve
- Apple balsamic vinegar
- 4 tbsp cream cheese
- 1 tbsp grated red cabbage
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Method
- Cut the cabbage in half and put in a heavy, cast-iron pan (I use an oval cocotte) with the butter and a good pinch of salt.
- Cover the pan and cook over a very low heat for 90 minutes, turning every half hour. Cooking over a low heat will steam the cabbage in the pot; too high a heat will burn the outside.
- Check with a small knife to see if the core is soft, and when it is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool with the lid on.
- While the cabbage is roasting, put the apples in a small pan with half the butter and cook gently for about 8 minutes, until soft.
- Stir in the remaining butter and add a pinch of salt.
- To make the dressing, mix the mustard with the vinegar and gradually whisk in the oil, as if you were making a mayonnaise. Season to taste.
- To serve, make artful squiggles of apple vinegar and mustard dressing on each plate. Put a spoonful of stewed apple in the centre.
- Slice each piece of still-warm cabbage in half and arrange one on each plate. Season lightly and top with a spoonful of cream cheese and a sprinkle of grated cabbage.
And to drink?
Match this top gastropub dish with Estrella Damm Inedit – a beer designed specifically to accompany and complement food. A unique marriage of barley malt and wheat, the 4.8% brew also counts coriander, orange peel and liquorice among its multiple flavours.