Slow-Braised Red Cabbage

Slow-braised red cabbage is soft and sweetly flavoured however with a hint of  tangy richness from the balsamic vinegar which gives this dish star quality on the table. It's the perfect side dish to serve with many meats and other dishes. We ate it with chorizo flavoured sausages cooked on the BBQ, and a Mixed Bean salad, and the flavours were immense.

Purple Sauerkraut, Fermenting with Red Cabbage

Red Cabbage Sauerkraut

Go straight to recipe here.

I've been experimenting with Fermenting over the last few weeks, and Sauerkraut is one of the easiest fermented foods to make so that is what I have started with. It is packed full of great things for our gut, including probiotic bacteria. There is no need to buy bottles of probiotics anymore. I have been doing a lot of reading on the topic of Fermentation from books that I have at home, however I was initially inspired by Dr Michael Mosley in his book the Clever Guts Diet. I also refer to Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon constantly, and now weigh all of this up with Sarah Wilson's very clever Simplicious book in the I Quit Sugar series.

The Crunchiest Red Cabbage, Chickpea, Carrot and Mint Salad

Red cabbage is the perfect vegetable for a tasty, colorful and interesting salad. Salads are on the menu again now that the weather has warmed up over here in Perth. When we first arrived two weeks ago in W.A. it was cold and windy, and having come from the land of salads in hot and humid  North Queensland we happily embraced vegetables, soups and other warming dishes. I first saw this sensational recipe on the beautiful Lorraine's website at  Not Quite Nigella, and was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it. Red cabbage stays fresh for a week or more in the fridge, so a red cabbage salad can be planned well ahead if you only shop weekly. The grapes are a delightfully fresh addition to the mix. I added the pistachios because I had them on hand and love the crunch of nuts. I also substituted the mint for the dill because we were having lamb with the salad, however dill works equally as well.

This salad is absolutely delicious, in fact I can't emphasise enough just how delicious it is. Neil loves it as well, which is great because we will be eating it for the next couple of days to accompany whatever else we are eating. However, it is delicious eaten on it's own.

I hope you can find time to make it.

Ingredients:
1/4 red cabbage, finely sliced
2 medium carrots, grated
400g/15oz tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Small handful of grapes, halved
Small handful of pistachios
1/4 cup chopped green onions
20 g fresh mint, finely sliced or 20 g fresh dill, fronds only
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 finely grated garlic clove
1 teaspoon honey
3 tablespoons mayonnaise, mixed with 1 tablespoon milk or buttermilk.
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Put on some nice music and prepare the vegetables and herbs
2. Toss them all together with the nuts in a large bowl
3. Whisk the oil, the lemon juice, the grated garlic clove, and the honey in a small bowl.
4. Add the mayonnaise and whisk until smooth
5. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste
6. Toss the mayonnaise with the vegetables

Thank you to my friends for visiting.

Best wishes,

Pauline

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage Salad feeds the masses a la Nigella Lawson

Sweet and Sour Red Coleslaw or Sweet and Sour Slaw

This Sweet and Sour Red Coleslaw is what I took along to a lunch yesterday. When I saw it in Nigella Lawson's "Simply Nigella" cookbook, as a Sweet and Sour slaw I liked the look of it. However, this salad shouldn't be attempted by anyone who is time poor. There is a lot of meditative chopping and slicing involved here as the raw ingredients fill a very large bowl or saucepan, probably the largest you have. I used my punch bowl which worked quite well and as there were around 30 people there, although I actually didn't count how many, a large salad was needed.