Chou Rouge aux Pommes

Casserole of Red Cabbage & Apples

  • 1 red cabbage, weighing about 1 kg (2 lb)
  • 1 tablespoon sunflower or groundnut oil
  • 2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2-3 medium-size eating apples
  • salt and pepper

Cut the tough outside leaves off the cabbage. Cut it in four and cut out the hard white stalk. Now slice the cabbage finely.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan and toss the cabbage in it for about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar. Peel, core and slice the apples. Add to the cabbage, mixing them together. Add salt and pepper, and water almost to the top of the cabbage. Bring to simmering point, cover and cook, either on top or in a medium-slow oven for two hours.

A variation can be made using fresh or vacuum packed chestnuts instead of apples: 20 – 25 (peeled, if fresh) should be added to the cabbage.

Both versions are nice with roast pork or pork chops.

The wine

Decanter recommends not changing your wine choice, but for going for something with a fuller body to match this strongly flavoured vegetable side. For example; Rosi recommends Pork, which would be a great match for white wine and lighter reds. Some of these might get overpowered by the red cabbage so look towards Barbera, a red wine from Northern Italy and new world Pinot Noirs – both of which have more palate weight. – Harry Fawkes, Decanter.com

Ebook and paperback versions of recipes from the French Wine Harvest are available from lulu.com. The ebook is also available from amazon.com, apple.com and other usual websites.

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Rosi Hanson
Decanter Magazine, French Wine & Food Writer

Rosi Hanson is a freelance journalist, based in London but specialising in French wine and food. She is the author of Recipes From the French Wine Harvest, which shares the country cuisines that feed the grape-pickers in Burgundy, Rhône, Bordeaux, Loire, Champagne and Alsace. She is married to a Master of Wine and travels frequently to Burgundy.