I love this bright purple addition to autumn dishes, staining your plate and bringing life and zest to brown autumnal food. It is brilliant with any number of beef or game stews, great with roast celeriac, in ham sandwiches or with Christmas lunch.

Braised Red Cabbage with Red Wine and Orange

SERVES 4 side

• 1/4 red cabbage, finely sliced on a mandolin

• 1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and diced

• 1/2 onion, peeled and diced

• 250ml cider or apple juice

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 100g demerara sugar

• 2 large pieces of orange zest

• 1 tsp allspice

• 15g butter

• salt and pepper

EQUIPMENT

• mandolin

Place the cabbage in a large heavy-based pan with the cooking apple, onion, cider, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Add the orange zest, allspice, butter and some salt and pepper, cover with a lid and simmer very gently over a low heat for 1 hour. Taste to see if you want it sweeter or need to add more vinegar after about 10 minutes of cooking, when everybody in the pan has got to know each other.