Crock Pot Baked Spiced Red Cabbage With Apples Or Pears - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 lbs red cabbage, shredded finely
4 large onions, peeled & finely diced
4 large apples or 4 large pears, NOT peeled, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, peeled & finely minced
4 tablespoons soft brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
salt & pepper
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 ounce butter

Preparation

Discard outer leaves of the red cabbage and ut into quarters. Cut out the central woody root and then shred the quarters very finely. Place in a bowl. Cut the apples or pears into quarters, core them & then slice into fine dice and set aside in another bowl.
Place peeled and diced onions into another bowl & make sure all the other ingredients are measured and to hand!
If cooking in a conventional dutch oven or Le Creuset type casserole dish, turn oven on to 180 C or 360\u00b0F It can be cooked on top of the stove too.
For cooking in the crockpot - take the inner crock out and start layering the ingredients: Red cabbage, then salt & pepper; Apples or pears, onions & garlic, then the spices & brown sugar;keep layering this way until everything has been used up.
(If you would like it slghtly spicier, add a little more spices, but no more than 1 teaspoon per spice, as it will be too spiced & will detract from the apple/pear & red cabbage flavours!).
Dot the top of the red cabbage with the butter and pour over the red wine vinegar.
Season once more with salt & pepper and cook for 6 to 12 hours on High in the crockpot, until everything has broken down, is soft and it is a rich red colour.
For conventional cooking - cook for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours at 180 C or 360\u00b0F I.
It can be cooked on the stove top too; takes about 2 - 3 hours on a low heat, just a slow simmer.
Pears can be used as well, and I sometimes add a handful of cranberries for a really festive touch!