Chef-patron Stephen Harris's Michelin-starred Kent pub the Sportsman in Seasalter was back on top of the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs awards last month. This dish has become a favourite on the award-winning pub's menu.
Ingredients (serves 4)
1 medium red cabbage, tough outer leaves removed
150g/5½oz (²⁄³ cup) butter
Sea salt
Stewed apple
2 Cox apples, unpeeled, cored
and diced
100g/3½oz (½ cup) butter
Sea salt
Mustard dressing
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp apple balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp neutral oil
Sea salt
To serve
Apple balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 tbsp grated red cabbage
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1.5 hours
Method
Cut the cabbage in half and put in a heavy, cast-iron pan (I use an oval cocotte) with the butter and a good pinch of salt.
Cover the pan and cook over a very low heat for 90 minutes, turning every half hour. Cooking over a low heat will steam the cabbage in the pot; too high a heat will burn the outside.
Check with a small knife to see if the core is soft, and when it is ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool with the lid on.
While the cabbage is roasting, put the apples in a small pan with half the butter and cook gently for about 8 minutes, until soft.
Stir in the remaining butter and add a pinch of salt.
To make the dressing, mix the mustard with the vinegar and gradually whisk in the oil, as if you were making a mayonnaise. Season to taste.
To serve, make artful squiggles of apple vinegar and mustard dressing on each plate. Put a spoonful of stewed apple in the centre.
Slice each piece of still-warm cabbage in half and arrange one on each plate. Season lightly and top with a spoonful of cream cheese and a sprinkle of grated cabbage.
And to drink?
Match this top gastropub dish with Estrella Damm Inedit – a beer designed specifically to accompany and complement food. A unique marriage of barley malt and wheat, the 4.8% brew also counts coriander, orange peel and liquorice among its multiple flavours.
