Hi gang! I’m back writing recipes, did you miss me? 🙂

To make up for my extended absence I asked you lovely lot on instagram, twitter and facebook to send me your recipe requests. I picked one at random, out of a bobble hat no less…and the request was for me to “make something veery interesting with Red Cabbage – lots of it!”

 

So, here goes, I hope it’s exciting enough for you N’ham Youth Theatre x

Thanks so much to all of you who submitted ideas – I will be picking a recipe at random again soon so if you would like to put an idea forward please get in touch via facebook, instagram or twitter using the hashtag #askmim – you can also use it for any foodie questions or conundrums you need help with.

Happy cooking xxx

Red cabbage cobbler

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter
150g – 200g shallots, peeled and quartered
1 sweet potato or around 200g of diced sweet potato, pumpkin, butternut squash (or a combination)
1 tablespoon of plain flour
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon juniper berries
1 red cabbage, about 1 kg, finely shredded
300ml red wine
couple of sprigs of thyme and rosemary (if they’re kicking about in the garden/on the window ledge/at the back of the fridge)
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 heaped teaspoons of cranberry sauce
2 heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard

For the cobbles

50g butter
200g plain flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g pecan nuts, chopped
100ml milk
lemon juice

Optional extras

100g feta cheese or 6 chipolata sausages
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat the oil and butter in a really large saucepan over a medium heat. Throw in the shallots and fry for 5 minutes so they’re starting to soften. Next chuck in the sweet potato or squash, keep frying for another 5 minutes, then add the tablespoon of flour. Stir in the red cabbage, garlic, juniper berries, red wine and 300ml of water. Mix really well scraping the bottom of the pan to make sure the liquid lifts off all the flavour that’s caught there.

2. Turn the heat down to low and tuck the cinnamon stick, bay leaf and herbs into the cabbage, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 1 hour.

3. Shortly before the hour is up, make your cobbles: Rub the flour and butter together with your finger tips – you know, till it looks all lumpy like fresh breadcrumbs. Add the chopped pecans, bicarbonate of soda, tiny squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and black pepper. Pour in the milk, stir then knead just enough to bring the dough together into a ball. On a floured surface press the dough flat (about 3cm thick) with your hands. Cut it into squares or triangles or if you’re feeling super fancy use  a cookie cutter to make circles, stars, anything you like.  Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. When the cabbage is ready either leave it in the pan (if your pan is oven safe) or transfer it to an oven proof dish. Pick out and discard the bay leaf and cinnamon stick then stir in the dijon mustard and cranberry sauce, taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly. Top the cabbage with the cobbles, brush them with milk or beaten egg and pop the whole thing in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cobbles are starting to brown on the top and are cooked through.

5. Serve! I had this just with some chopped parsley over the top but have also tried it with some feta cheese crumbled over in the last 5 – 10 minutes of cooking then scattered over some toasted seeds before dishing up, which was ace, but would also be smashing with a pile of cooked chipolatas. A green salad with a sharp vinaigrette goes really well with this too.