Recipe - Sausage braised with cabbage and apple - Time 30mins, Skill (Easy), Eating (Medium)

Hello! Well I'm a bit surprised I've not blogged for over a year here. I thought I had. I planned to... But life got in the way, firstly I bought myself a machine that cuts and draws, thinking it would get me back into doing a bit of crafting (it has) and I've been blogging about that on my other blog HERE, and also, I was getting ready to, then actually moving house, then recovering from it.

Anyway lots of new recipes in my head, if only because since I moved here, and my carers who do batch cooking on Tuesday and Friday agreed to it, I now get an organic veg box every other week. So there's LOADS more fresh veg in my diet now. The other change is that I now only have a combination microwave. No hob and no oven (the previous owners of my new palace took it with them, it had more controls than a spaceship so I insisted lol). So for now recipes will be done for people with and oven and a hob but also, for my convenience, have microwave/combination instructions also. So. Follow one or the other not both! or you'll get confused!

This week I have rather a lot of vegetables, I wasn't feeling well so we didn't cook last tuesday and I'm feeling overrun. So this recipe uses up a whole cabbage.

[Picture to follow once it's been made. In about an hour or so...]

What is it? Sausages cooked with onion and apple and cabbage on the hob or in the microwave.

Time required? around 30minutes

Cooking skill required? easy to medium. Carer needs to know how to cut up an onion and to quarter, core and finely shred (long strands) a cabbage.

Some carers are quite slow at chopping vegetables. Remember you can buy onions ready chopped that are frozen so that makes it easier and also you can I think buy ready chopped cabbage. Anyway, it may take an extra 15mins if the carer is slow at prepping veggies. They will get faster, particularly if you either show or explain what to do, OR get them to watch a suitable you tube video. Oh and a sharp knife helps!

Eating ability required? Medium. Because cabbage does need to be chewed. Obviously the finer it's chopped the less chewing, but still. Also the sausages can be skinned and cut up, or even balls of sausagemeat used instead which makes it easier but even so. I think medium.

SAUSAGES BRAISED IN CABBAGE WITH APPLE
Portion Size 4 (I usually get 5 or 6 but then I use a LOT of cabbage and have one sausage per portion)

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp (tablespoon) of olive oil (or vegetable oil)

450g (1lb) of sausages - skinned and cut into bite size pieces.

It can take time to skin them, and the carer might not want to handle raw sausage meat - so either buy skinless or get the carer to cut up the sausages after they've been cooked if you can cope with the skins. If you are ok with cutting up your own food, they can be used whole.  Sometimes you can buy raw mini sausages or meatballs made of sausage, they could be a good alternative.

If you're a vegetarian, then I think SosMix would work well here
A word about sausages, the better quality you can afford, the nicer the recipe will be. I like them with caramelized onion or with apple. Today's were venison and pork, purely because I buy meat when there's a deal on at the online supermarket and that's what they had. I keep them in the freezer til I want to eat a sausage dish for a week. I just use a pack (usually about 4-6 sausages and ask the carers to chop each sausage into say 4 to 5 pieces and then make sure they understand when plating up that each portion needs 4-5 pieces ie one sausage's worth in it)

Large handful of chopped onion (as you know from previous recipes, I buy frozen ready chopped onion)

A large apple - any sort but the crisper the better. Washed, cored and cut to bite size pieces. If you want less to chew, peel it first!

A cabbage - washed, checked for wildlife, cut into quarters, cored and cut into shreds (long thin slices). Or smaller pieces if it's easier to chew.

Splash of cider vinegar - this is about two teaspoons I think. Not more than a tablespoon. It brightens the flavour. Don't use normal vinegar! In a pinch you can use a bit of lemon juice, I keep a bottle of it in the fridge for things like this.

Salt and Pepper - to taste

Water - better to be hot, the amount depends whether you want a stew or just a moist braised dish. For a stew you are looking at about half a litre/ one pint. For a moist braised dish you are looking at about 100-200ml/ quarter pint.

Herbs - You could add whatever herbs you liked, caraway or dill are traditionally eastern european, or a mixed italian one, or whatever goes with the sausages you are using. Or none at all. I like a bay leaf in it. I put herbs in at the same stage as the cabbage and water.

Garlic - You could also add garlic if you want at the same stage as the onion. I use ready prepped garlic that comes in a tube as a paste.

PREPARATION

Using a Hob:

1. Heat the oil in a pan big enough to take everything, and gently fry the sausage pieces until cooked through
2.  Add the onions (and garlic if using) on a low heat until they are translucent (see through) you aren't trying to make them crispy! If they start to burn, add a tablespoon of water or so, caramelised is fine, cremated is not!
3. Add the chopped apple and cook for a couple of minutes
4. Add the shredded cabbage and season with salt and pepper, the cider vinegar and the amount of water you've chosen to use. Add herbs if using.
5. Increase heat and cook until the cabbage is softened (it's up to you if it has some bite or melts in your mouth more. Get the carer to bring you a bit on a teaspoon for tasting).
6. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Using a microwave: (mine is an E category)

1. Get a big pyrex dish with a lid or whatever you usually use in your microwave. ALWAYS put the lid on - it keeps the food moist, but also, means you don't have to clean the microwave as often!
2. Put the oil and sausages in the dish and mix well. Put the lid on, cook for 2-3 minutes on full power, checking half way through and stirring. They don't have to be fully cooked through at this stage because that'll happen when the onions are added.
3. Add the onions and mix well, put the lid on, cook for 2-3 minutes on full power, again checking and stirring half way. Add a bit of water if it's looking dry.
4. Add the chopped apple and cook for 2 minutes on full power. Again, mix well and stirring half way. Add a bit of water if it's looking dry. Just to moisten it.
5. Add the shredded cabbage and season with salt and pepper and the water and mix well. Cook on full power for about 5 minutes but keep checking and stirring.
6. Add the cider vinegar and give it one more minute (the reason is I find that with microwaving either the flavour disappears for things like this, or gets super strong if you add it earlier).
7. Check it's cooked to the right bite/softness and adjust seasoning and serve. If it's too chewy cook for a bit longer. 
    

REMEMBER that you're batch cooking this and microwaving to reheat so it needs to be a bit chewier than you want, so that it is the right chewiness after reheating tomorrow.

Trying to lose weight? Then don't use the oil.  Instead, put a couple of tablespoons of water into the pan first, then add the sausage pieces, onion and apple. Let them simmer for 5-10 mins, then add the other ingredients in the order above.  The flavour won't be as rich/ caramelised, so you might need more herbs, or tomatoes to compensate - or higher quality sausages.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

• I eat it just as it is. If you want it a bit richer, then a blob of creme fraiche or plain live yoghurt (good for the digestion) works.
• Nice with a side of green runner beans or soy beans (good for ladies of a certain age) or fresh french bread & butter.  Or buttered carrots.
• It gets better, the flavours develop the next day. Keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days as long as it's cooled fairly fast and refridgerated quickly (you have to be careful with pork)

ALTERNATIVES

•  Don't see why you couldn't use beef or lamb or venison meatballs if you fancied them instead of sausages.
  
  
• You could also use bite size chunks of any meat instead - diced pork, lamb, chicken, turkey etc.
  
  
• Loads of different sorts of sausages - I think chunks of dried sausage like chorizo or italian or salami also works well (your carer might find it easier to deal with skinning & chunking dried sausage). I think this is originally an Eastern European dish so any of their hard sausages would work really well, or German ones.
• Add other vegetables to bulk it out - Basically, if you've any fresh veg that you've not used up yet and is in danger of going off, this recipe can probably cope with a random variety! 
  
  You could leave out the meat altogether and have a medley of root veg instead.

Can it be reheated? Yes, it is even better the day after making and it is happy being microwaved (just add a tablespoon of water to stop it getting dry on reheating).

Is it freezeable? I haven't, but I don't see why not. You'd just have to be careful making sure that the pork is properly defrosted and heated right through.