Spiced Red Cabbage With Agen Prunes and Walnuts

Serves 8

This is a delicious accompaniment to roast goose, duck or turkey. Every ingredient can be sourced locally in the Quercy, and the famous Agen prunes can be found worldwide if you happen to be elsewhere.

Ingredients

1 medium red cabbage, shredded
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
200g/7oz broken walnuts
250g/9oz stoned Agen prunes
Good slosh red wine vinegar
50g/2oz caster sugar
A large knob of butter
A good grating of fresh nutmeg
1 Cinnamon stick and two cloves tied together

Method

In a large saucepan gently fry the onion in the butter until it softens slightly, add the garlic then carefully add the cabbage, stirring thoroughly as you do so. Now add the wine vinegar, sugar and nutmeg. Give another good stir, add ½ litre boiling water, pop the cinnamon bundle on top, put a lid on and simmer gently for and hour. Stir from time to time to make sure the mixture hasn’t dried out. (Be careful with your cinnamon as you do this)
After an hour, remove the cinnamon and cloves and discard. Chop the prunes until they’re about the same size as the broken walnuts and add both to the cabbage. Taste to see if the sweetening is to your liking and add adjust if necessary. Add a little more water and continue simmering for another half hour. The finished dish should have virtually no liquid left. If there is still liquid in the pan just before you wish to serve remove the lid and turn up the heat, stirring well, until it evaporates.

This is a very well behaved dish. You can make it two or three hours in advance, you can even make it the day before and reheat it. It is also excellent with ham and cold cuts the next day…

© Amanda Lawrence
All rights reserved

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