Many of winter’s most welcome savoury recipes come with fruit either in them or on the side. Scarlet cranberry sauce smeared on slices of roast turkey at Christmas; baked apples, white and fluffy, with roast goose; plumped-up prunes in a lamb tagine or preserved lingonberries to mash into the gravy of your Swedish meatballs. Even a country pub’s ploughman’s lunch comes with an apple to crunch as we warm ourselves around the open fire.
Rotkohl is not only German for red cabbage but is also the name of a sweet-and-sour dish of cabbage and apple as old as the hills and most often eaten when there’s ice on the kitchen windows. Sauerbraten, the German pork, beef or venison pot roast, would feel naked without the warmth of rotkohl’s softened red leaves, brown sugar and apples. Often kept simple – cabbage, fruit, red-wine vinegar and brown sugar – it can be embellished with cloves, juniper, garlic or honey, even a few caraway seeds. My dinner last night, with red cabbage, pears and sausages, is barely a snowball’s throw away from this cold-weather classic.
I made savoury tarts this week, too: tiny open-top pies of Cox’s apples and caramelised banana shallots – a warming rearrangement of the pickled onion, apples and cheese of a ploughman’s lunch. Sweet, savoury and eaten fresh from the oven, they, too, would be at home with a foaming pint and a roaring fire.
Apple shallot tarts
Makes 6 deep tarts. You will also need 6 tartlet cases measuring 8cm across the base.
For the pastry:
plain flour 200g
butter 100g
parmesan 50g, grated
egg yolk 1
water 2-3 tbsp
For the filling:
banana shallots 3 medium
butter 50g
Cox’s apples 3 medium
egg 1
crème fraîche 300g
Make the pastry. Put the flour into the bowl of a food processor, then add the butter, cut into small pieces, and process to coarse crumbs. Add the grated parmesan and egg yolk, blitz briefly, then add the water a little at a time and mix to a soft but rollable dough. If you prefer to mix by hand, cut the butter into small dice and rub into the flour with your fingertips. When you have achieved a coarse, crumb-like texture, introduce the cheese, egg yolk and, little by little, the water. Mix until you have a dough that is soft but firm enough to roll.
Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper or clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Make the filling. Peel the shallots, then slice into thin rounds. Warm half the butter in a shallow pan and fry for a few minutes over a moderate heat until the shallots have softened. They shouldn’t colour past pale gold, as they will get a second cooking in the oven. Put a metal baking sheet or baking stone in the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. You will cook the tartlets on this. It will give them a crisp bottom.
Cut the apples in half – I don’t feel any need to peel them – then cut each half into six segments, removing the core as you go. Remove the shallots from the pan, add the remaining butter, then add the apple slices to the pan and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until they have started to soften.
Roll the pastry out and use to line the tartlet tins. (I like to divide the dough into six, then roll out each piece separately.) Take care to push the pastry right into the corners. Trim as necessary (there will be a little pastry left over). Fill each case with a piece of greaseproof paper, kitchen foil or baking parchment and baking beans, then bake blind for 20 minutes or so, until the pastry has firmed round the edges. Carefully remove the baking beans and paper, then return the pastry cases to the oven for 5 minutes, until dry to the touch. Remove the tartlets from the oven and lower the heat to 180C/gas mark 4.
Break the egg into a mixing bowl, or better still, a jug. Beat lightly, then stir in the crème fraîche. Season with salt and black pepper. Divide the softened onions between the pastries and tuck the apple among them, then pour in the cream mixture. Bake the tarts on the baking sheet or stone for 30 minutes till puffed and golden.
Red cabbage, chipolata and pear
Serves 2
groundnut oil 2-3 tbsp
chipolata sausages 250g
red cabbage 300g
conference or other firm pears 500g
juniper berries 8
cranberries a handful, fresh or frozen
red-wine vinegar 2 tbsp
walnut halves a handful
red or blackcurrant jelly 3 level tbsp
Warm a tablespoon of the oil in a large, deep pan. Cut the chipolatas in half lengthways, then cook them in the oil for a couple of minutes, until golden brown. Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.
Trim the toughest of the stalks from the red cabbage and discard, then slice the leaves into finger-width shreds. Put the cabbage in the pan and leave to cook, stirring it round as it sizzles, making certain that it doesn’t burn.
Slice the pears, coring them as you go, and add them to the cabbage. Lightly crush the juniper berries, squashing them flat, then add the cranberries. Pour in the vinegar, let it sizzle briefly, then add the crushed juniper berries. Cover tightly with a lid and leave the cabbage to cook for 8-10 minutes, until it has softened slightly but still retains something of its crispness.
Return the chipolatas to the pan, add the walnut halves and let them warm through, stirring regularly, then stir in the fruit jelly. Serve when all is hot and sizzling.
