Braised Red Cabbage With Chestnuts, Bacon and Apples

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Step 2

   Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Score the chestnuts and drop them into the boiling water. Let simmer 2 minutes. Turn off heat and leave chestnuts in the water. Extract 2 or 3 at a time and peel them, carefully removing the inner skin that clings to the nutmeats. If the process becomes too difficult, bring the water to the boil again to help loosen the skins. When all the chestnuts are peeled, set aside.

3. Step 3

   Cut the cabbage in quarters, remove any wilted leaves, cut out the core and slice each quarter approximately ¼ inch thick. Set aside.

4. Step 4

   Remove rind from bacon. Cut into lardons and fry gently until the bacon bits are brown and crisp. Drain the bacon bits and set aside.

5. Step 5

   Chop the onion coarsely and saute in the bacon fat until it starts to brown. Set aside.

6. Step 6

   Peel and core the apples and cut into chunks.

7. Step 7

   In a medium-sized casserole dish, arrange the cabbage, bacon, onion, apples and chestnuts. Bury the bay leaves and the crushed clove of garlic in the center. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper. Add the wine.

8. Step 8

   Bring the broth to a boil in a separate saucepan and pour broth over the cabbage mixture. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and place in preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and if there is still a lot of liquid in the dish, raise heat to 400 degrees. Continue baking for another 30 minutes until the top starts to brown. Remove the bay leaves. Serve immediately.