Spring

One of the ways to tell that spring is here is if there are people besides you in the community garden. Last weekend, we finally met some of our old gardening friends whom we have missed all winter. They were preparing their beds for spring planting, and we ended up being presented one of their phenomenal red cabbages. I had been admiring those cabbages all winter, asking myself why they were so much bigger and prettier than ours. I'm still not sure, but since they planted earlier, my guess would be they simply got more of the late summer warmth.

Red cabbage, when made the traditional German way, is very good, but always reminds me of Christmas, which is when it is usually served with an apple stuffed roasted goose and potatoes. In order to get around that association, I usually spice up red cabbage when I make it outside of the holidays.

Today, I made honey, beer and mustard braised red cabbage.

I apologize for the vague recipe, but it's one of those improvised dishes that I've never measured the ingredients for.

one head of red cabbage, central stem removed and sliced into fine strips
one large red onion, halved and sliced into thin strips
butter
about 1 tablespoon honey
about 1 tablespoon mustard
about one tablespoon dark raisins
about 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
about 1 cup of beer (you can substitute chicken broth)

melt butter in a large pan over low-medium heat, add onions and slowly cook until translucent, but not browned, about 10-15 minutes. This takes a little time, but it's well worth the patience- the onions will turn slightly sweet. Add shredded cabbage and other ingredients, turn, cover the pan with a lid, and keep braising over low-medium heat for about 25 minutes. There should always be a little bit of liquid at the bottom to prevent things from sticking, so if you opened the lid too frequently and too much evaporated, just add a little more beer or chicken broth. Season with salt, pepper, and chili flakes if you like it hot (I do). Goes well with beer, of course.