Braised red cabbage

I really love braised red cabbage but, perhaps because it takes so long to cook, don't make it that often. However they had some at the farmers' market yesterday so I thought I'd make a recipe I used to make eons ago from The Penguin Freezer Cookbook. It went with our first really Christmassy meal of the holiday - roast duck (£6 from Somerfield) with roasties and red cabbage.

It fed four and there's enough left over for at least four more portions, maybe six. I've frozen it for a night when I don't feel like faffing around with vegetables. Ideally you should use a sharp apple like Bramleys but I had some slightly tired eating apples I wanted to use up which were fine.

Serves 8-10
2 tbsp bacon fat, duck fat, goose fat or 1 tbsp each oil and butter
1 large or 2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
1 medium-sized red cabbage
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 large or 4 smaller cooking or eating apples
4 cloves
1-2 tbsp soft brown or demerara sugar
150ml red wine + extra to taste.
Salt and pepper

Heat the fat or oil and cook the onion over a low heat for about 7-8 minutes until soft. While it's cooking cut the cabbage into quarters, remove the central core and slice finely. Stir the garlic into the onions then tip in the cabbage, stir thoroughly and continue to cook in a covered pan over a low heat until it starts to collapse and reduce in volume (about another 10 minutes). Quarter, peel, core and slice the apples and add them to the pan along with the cloves and a heaped tablespoon of sugar then pour in the red wine. (You can see from the picture what it looks like at this stage.) Bring to the boil then turn right down and leave over a very low heat or in a slow oven for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours, stirring a couple of times. Check for seasoning, adding a little more wine and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with roast duck or pork, beef or venison sausages or a beef stew.

(Incidentally the duck carcass, as you probably know, will make terrific stock)