Wintery Red Cabbage, Sausage and Apple Dunking Stew
Leah Kalemba
January 25, 2019

One pot, a host of hearty ingredients and a touch of seasonal spice without being too early to the Christmas party. This dunking stew is the perfect answer to a cold dark evening. It takes moments to prepare and doesn’t require the day-long brewing that a proper thick stew needs. For this reason I’ve called it a dunking stew - calling to a broth makes it sound too weedy but it would be false advertising to imply that the liquid had the fortitude of a regular stew. The juice in this one is ideal for soaking up with thick slices of bread. This is a fast-track to casserole comfort.

I used Knorr stock pots to make my stock because I find they have a good strong flavour, but feel free to use home-made stock if you’re that much of a domestic Jedi. You could also add a little extra something like red win or port to it if you want a deeper flavour, but bear in mind it’s not going to boil off as much as in slow and low cooked dishes.

 

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Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 16 sausages
  • 1 small red cabbage
  • 1 onion
  • 2 large carrots
  • 4 granny smith apples
  • 1 large leek
  • 1000ml rich beef stock (you’ll need less probably but better not to be short). I used “stock pots” (4-/14 cups)
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • salt & pepper
  • Stilton / other cheese
  • Good fresh bread to serve
  • 1 large cast iron casserole dish

Method

  1. Slice the red cabbage, onion and leeks thinly
  2. Cut each sausage into three (unless you particularly want to leave them whole)
  3. Peel the apples and carrots and cut into large chunks
  4. Pre-heat oven to 180c (350°F)
  5. Put the casserole dish on the hob, heat a little oil and add the sausages and onions
  6. Cook until starting to brown
  7. Next add the cabbage, leek, carrot, cinnamon, salt and pepper and continue to fry off, add the until just starting to go soft (though if you’re impatient it doesn’t matter too much)
  8. Pour the stock over until it just reaches the top
  9. Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in the over for 1hr
  10. After 1hr take the lid off and cook for a further 30mins in the oven (keep an eye on it but it’ll help it be less runny)
  11. Serve in bowls with stilton or other cheese of your choice crumbled over the top and a big hunk or two of fresh bread and butter to dunk into the juice.23

     

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