STEWED RED CABBAGE

November in Slovenia is in many ways a very special month. We have two traditionally important holidays. November the 1st, when we remember our ancestors and St. Martins day on November the 11th when we celebrate the arrival of the new wine.
November is also thought to be an introduction into winter. It can be cold and wet, snow and frost are also not unusual. It is the last month of autumn and sometimes, like this year, it can be still sunny and even warm. 

Autumn, so beautiful part of the year

So colourful, so rich

It is time when farmers are finishing the last harvest and start enjoying products of their hard work during the year. 
In November the new wine arrives to the markets and like in France with Beaujolais nouveau, we are celebrating St.Martins day. In popular belief, it is the day when the fermentation of grapes is finished and the impure wine turns into pure new wine. You can imagine there is a lot of wine tasting events everywhere and with that we also need some good food. The food accompanying  the wine depends on where you are. It can be just olive oil with homemade bread, meat stew with traditional side dish etc. Usually St.Martins feast consist of roasted goose, red cabbage and mlinci. Mlinci is a special kind of pasta made of flat bread.

Red cabbage stew is considered to be a very tasty side dish that goes very well with all kinds of roasted meat. It is especially appreciated in winter time, when there are not so many other fresh vegetables available. It is easy to make, healthy and very tasty. 

Stewed red cabbage recipe:

Ingredients:

1 red cabbage - about 1kg

1 red onion

1 big apple, sour if possible
1 lemon, juice and zest 

2 tbsp vinegar 

oil for cooking

1 tbsp sugar

salt to taste

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp cloves

1 pinch of cinnamon

2 bay leaves

1 dcl boiled water or soup

1 glass of good red vine

Main ingredients

Cooking method:

Cut or grate the cabbage, add salt and vinegar. 

Cut the cabbage and season it.

Put oil in the pan, add sugar and nicely chopped onion. Sauté for a few minutes until it starts to get a nice yellow colour. Add cabbage, all the spices and grated apple. Stir well and cook for a few minutes. Add boiled water or soup and wine and cook until it gets soft. When almost cooked, taste it and add more spices if needed. 

Add grated sour apple.

Add a glass of wine.

Serve as side dish with meat. You can add the sauce from roasted meat for better taste.

Served with stuffed chicken.

You can serve it to all kinds of roasted meat. I certainly add it on St.Martins plate and I strongly recommend it as a side dish for any venison roast and stew.
You can also serve it with pasta, buckwheat pockets, Idrija zlikrofi, obrnenk and make a delicious vegetarian dish. 

Or serve with Buckwheat štruklji with cottage cheese.
I will present the recipe soon.

See more photos on this LINK!