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February: comfort cabbage coleslaw

Back in September of last year I wrote about two A-words that were taking up most of my head-space. Over the past few weeks, one of the A-words has had me working long days and late nights to meet my reporting deadlines; the other broke up with me. Frankly, January was a bastard of a month.

Having got over the initial anxiety-induced appetite-quashing phase, I’m now in need of comfort food. And red cabbage struck me as the thing to do it. You can simmer it down with spices and dried fruits, or you can zing it up with citrus and mango and turn it into a rather fancy coleslaw. I did all of the above (as well as adding it to Thai noodle soup – not a great idea – because trying to eat an entire red cabbage by yourself is no mean feat).

I stewed this red cabbage with prunes, cloves, apple juice and red wine, and served it with venison fillet. I also made rösti, which tasted great but didn’t look so fabulous in the photo.

This winter coleslaw comes from Ottolenghi’s Plenty (again – I know – am a bit obsessed) and involves mango, chilli, caramelised peanuts, chicory (off-roading from the recipe there, but papaya wasn’t happening), coriander, and a dressing made of lime and soy sauce.

You know I usually hate February (V-Day and the bank-account-withering green tax envelope from the gemeente being my top-two most hated moments of year) but if it can end up just a tad better than January I’ll take it…

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