Delia's Traditional Braised Red Cabbage with Apples Recipe

• Delia Smith

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This is a recipe I have been cooking for years. It's great because it can be made a day or two before and gently reheated with no last-minute bother. It is a perfect accompaniment to venison, goose or pork (and if you have any left over it does wonders for bangers and mash).

Serves 10-12 people

1kg red cabbage
450g onions, chopped small
450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped small
1 clove garlic, chopped very small
¼ whole nutmeg, freshly grated
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
15g butter
seasoning
A large casserole with a tight-fitting lid.

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2.

First, discard the tough outer leaves 
of the cabbage, cut it into quarters and remove the hard stalk. Then shred the rest of the cabbage finely, using your sharpest knife (although you can shred it in a food processor, I prefer to do it by hand because it doesn't come out so uniform). Next, in a fairly large casserole, arrange 
a layer of shredded cabbage and some seasoning, then a layer of chopped onions and apples with a sprinkling of garlic, spices and sugar. Continue with these alternate layers until everything is in.

Now pour in the wine vinegar and lastly add dots of butter on the top. Put a tight 
lid on the casserole and let it cook very slowly in the oven for 2-2½ hours, stirring everything around once or twice during the cooking. Red cabbage, once cooked, will keep warm without coming to any harm and it will also reheat very successfully. And yes, it does freeze well, so all in all, 
it's a real winner of a recipe.