Braised Skillet Red Cabbage with Kabanos Sausage and Apples

I’m always trying to find new ways to prepare veggies, and sometimes I feel that they are so delish they can beckon me more than the main! While DH and I like cabbage in many forms, we were having Netanel and Ayelet over and I know she’s not a cabbage fan (from childhood, apparently) but figured I had enough other sides that she’d be fine.

Not to mention, when I served stuffed cabbage she said, but I like that kind of cabbage! So I knew there was some wiggle room here.

I had bought red cabbage and thought I’d make a slaw out of it and then we’d just purchased some Pink Lady apples and they were side by side on the counter. Hmmm, nice, okay, not slaw, let’s cook this together! So then I debated what would please me mixing it up a bit.

I won’t lie, originally I planned to make this with pastrami but the butcher didn’t have the proper kind so I spotted these lovely kubanos sausages in the refrigerator case and said, hey, why not? Kabanos are these dried long sausages (these actually weren’t even beef, rather chicken/turkey mixture) that resemble skinny salamis

Here a picture is truly worth a thousand words, no guessing, just seeing. They are easily found here in Jerusalem but if you cannot find them, you can sub them out with the original pastrami idea or chunk up some salami or even kielbasa. Turkey or beef are both excellent. These have a bit of a smoky flavor which I particularly like. K, I love it when a plan comes together. So I took some of my prepared stock of caramelized onions out of the freezer, (but if you don’t have any ready and available, now’s the time to chop up an onion and cook it in the frying pan). Then you would add the sliced up the sausages and throw the sausage in a frying pan with a bit of oil to start the cooking.

In the pan with some oil

Do this on low simmer, make sure they don’t burn. Now peel and core and chop up some apples finely.

And put the apple and onion in together (or if you had to sautee them, the onion is already there).

The scent already was making me crazy! Now stir and sautee a bit and add the red cabbage.

Stir and toss the cabbage and other ingredients and throw in a handful of craisins as well. Add the water, honey and vinegar and sprinkle with salt to taste. Stir again and cover with a lid, tilted. Cook till the cabbage wilts, cooks down and most of the liquid cooks out about 20 minutes or so. Since the apple is finely chopped, it should be soft and almost disappear into the cabbage mixture. That’s what you want.

The cabbage turns a lovely dark purple and the combination of ingredients scents the kitchen so that people have been known to stick their nose in the pot (literally), inhale and scoop some up to “test taste it”. There you go!

Braised Skillet Red Cabbage with Kabanos Sausage and Apples

3 heaping tablespoons caramelized onions OR 1 medium onion, peeled chopped small and sauteed in 2 tablespoons oil till medium brown
2-3 (120 grams) kabanos, kielbasa or pastrami or hard salami sliced or cubed
2 apples peeled and chopped fine, I used Pink Lady
1 package (400 grams) about 12-14 ounces red cabbage, shredded
1/3 cup (a handful) craisins
1 1/2 (360 ml) cups water
2-3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
Salt to taste

Directions:

If you don’t have prepared sauteed onions, do that first in your frying pan with the oil. Make sure they don’t get too dark or they will taste burnt. Put the sliced sausage in this and on low heat cook briefly about 3 minutes. Add the chopped, peeled apples and sautee together with onion and sausage about 3 more minutes, add cabbage and sautee a few minutes and as it starts to wilt, add craisins, water, honey, vinegar and salt. Stir about, cover with lid on a tilt and cook on low heat about 20 minutes or till cabbage cooks down, turns dark purple and apples are soft.