Red Cabbage braised in Cider

I bought a pointed red cabbage at Lidl yesterday on the way home from work. I only new pointed white cabbage until now. They had a huge crate of the red ones sitting in the store and it looked like not so many people were eager to buy it. I had the full choice of the crop.

Next thing to do was looking for a recipe other then the usual red cabbage slaw or our family`s favourite cooked pot of shredded red cabbage. That is done preferably the day before and then reheated. Maybe reheated a day after that again. It is getting better and better this way.

I found a recipe from Martha Stewart, America's best housewife.

For her this is a German inspired dish.  This method is unknown here in Germany. I think, she got her spices wrong.  Nobody uses cinnamon in red cabbage, we all use cloves.

recipe for 4:
2 1/2 pound red cabbage or pointed one
1 medium onion
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp light Brown sugar
2 Cups cider
1 Cup low sodium chicken stock homemade
1/2 Cup cider vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
1 dried bay leaf
1  tsp salt
1 tsp corn starch optional

Preheat the oven to 175 C.
Cut the cabbage into 8 wedges. Leave the stem on.
Use an ovenproof pan with a lid that is wide enough to hold all the cabbage.
Cut the onion into fine strips and heat up the oil in the pan. Fry off the onions, best use a lid to half steam them. After 10 minutes, add the brown sugar and let it caramelise.
Now comes the cider vinegar. I used a little less then 1/2 Cup and that was good. The whole dish was a bit to vinegary for my taste.

Do not keep your head above the pan, the vinegar will go up your nose.
Add salt and some pepper, the cinnamon stick and the bay leaf.
Now the chicken stock and the cider. Cram all the wedges into the pan.
Bring it to a boil and close the lid.

Put it into the oven for 45 min.  A bit longer wont be bad!
Get the wedges out and store them on a plate.

Put the pan back on high heat on the stove and fish out cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Reduce the liquid by half. You can add some starch diluted in water to thicken the sauce. Spoon over the cabbage and serve.
This time I followed the recipe against my usual ways. I served it with a chunk of pan fried salmon.

The dish was too sour for my taste and the cinnamon was weird.