Braised Red Cabbage with Sausages and Bacon

I'm always on the lookout for hearty alternatives to a Sunday roast, even at this time of the year. This makes a great bank holiday meal; a slow, lazy meal packed with flavour.

Braised Red Cabbage with Sausages & Bacon with St Peter's Organic Ale. (Feeds two very well!)

You will need:

1 Medium Head of Red Cabbage, chopped

8 Pork Sausages

4 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon, chopped

A knob of Unsalted Butter

2 tsp Caster Sugar

White Pepper

A little Salt

1/2pt of Chicken Stock

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160c.

2. In a large casserole that can take direct heat, melt the butter. Add the cabbage and coat in the fats and butter. Dust with the sugar, white pepper (A couple of pinches) and a little salt. Add the Bacon. Stir well, cover with stock, and bring to the boil.

3. Transfer the Casserole dish into the oven and braise for at least two hours. It's ready when the stock (or most of it) is absorbed.

4. Cook your sausages as normal, and serve on top of the cabbage.

That's it. A slow-cooked gem that tastes great. As usual, I can only advise you to buy the best-quality sausages you can get - there's no excuse for poor meat and the simple flavours of this dish rely on the quality of the ingredients. You can use whatever flavour sausages you like; by all means, experiment. And it's very cool to see your bacon turn purple!

If you don't have a casserole dish that you can use direct heat on, then do step one in a pan, and transfer to an oven-proof dish once ready to go in the oven.

For Beer, I chose a beer that for me, is fast becoming a modern classic: St Peter's Organic Ale (4.5abv). This forward-thinking brewery produce some great beers, but this is my favourite and perfect to compliment the deeply savoury tastes of the sausage and cabbage - medium bodied, low carbonation and a really malty, biscuity taste. Perfect.