Like most people, I could live without cabbage.
After a long hike, I don’t crave a big bowl of cabbage soup the way I do a hamburger or a roast chicken. I don’t salivate over steamed cabbage the way I do for a big slice of peanut-butter pie.
Cabbage is, for me as for most people, a food of necessity rather than choice. There are, admittedly no cabbage-themed restaurants like there are steakhouses.
Having said that, cabbage has its place: Eastern European and Korean food would hardly exist without the cabbage; a Reuben wouldn’t be a Reuben without a big handful of sauerkraut between the bread, and I couldn’t imagine a Choucroute Garnie without it either.
One of my favorite ways to prepare cabbage is as a side dish or a kind of compote: to saute red cabbage with onions and braise it with apple juice and fragrant roasted spices. You quarter the cabbage, core it and slice it thinly. You saute onions and add the cabbage, wilt it , then braise it in organic, unfiltered apple juice, along with roasted, coarsely chopped black peppercorns, caraway seeds and juniper berries (the fragrance of roasted juniper berries is the richest scent in all of cooking, and this recipe is worthwhile just to inhale their fragrance). Add a few drops of vinegar at the end to balance the sweetness of the apple juice.
Cider-braised cabbage is perfect with roast duck, duck confit, venison, or pork chops.
Cider-braised Cabbage
Serves about 6.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola
1 small head red cabbage with outer leaves removed, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
2 cups unfiltered organic apple juice
Few drops red wine or sherry vinegar
Directions
On the stovetop or in a 400-degree oven, roast the peppercorns, caraway seeds and juniper berries until fragrant. Transfer them to a cutting board and chop them with a large knife or crush them with the bottom of a small heavy skillet. Set aside.
In a Dutch oven, sweat the onion in the oil over low heat. Add the cabbage and a pinch of salt. Toss to coat in the oil and sweat until the cabbage is wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the apple juice and cook, uncovered, about 30 minutes. Add the spices and cook 1 more minute. Add the vinegar and adjust the seasoning.
Serve the cabbage slightly warm, with pork or game.
