Braised Red Cabbage w/Goat Cheese

I recently had dinner at the restaurant Bandera with my girlfriend Kindra. We had a long wait, which was plenty of time to catch up and create a major hunger level. Both of us decided to order the vegetarian plate with a few substitutions. One of the seasonal vegetable sides was Braised Red Cabbage w/Goat Cheese. It ended up being my favorite part of the meal. I immediately went home and did some “copycat” online research and found a simple recipe on Food.com (Who had gotten it from Nibbles of Tidbit’s) that was supposed to be a copycat of Houston’s Braised Cabbage w/Goat Cheese and Houston’s is part of the Hillstone Restaurant Group that owns Bandera… so I gave it a shot and I’m so glad I did.

The Ingredients:
1 Head of Red Cabbage – Chopped or Shredded
1/2 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1/4 Cup Water
2 1/2 Tablespoons Butter
2 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar
Crumbled Goat Cheese – Used as a Topping

Directions:

• Add the Vinegar, Water, Butter and Sugar to a Dutch Oven.  Heat all on the stove for about 5 minutes.  When the Sugar is dissolved, add the chopped Red Cabbage.
• Stir all together, then cover and braise in the oven at 325° for 2 hours.  Stir every half hour or so.  If the liquid completely evaporates, just add a little extra Water.

I chopped my red cabbage…

I wasn’t too precise in my cuts – just a nice rough chop. I then got the vinegar, water, butter and sugar dissolved in my Dutch oven on the stove. (medium heat)

I got all of the cabbage coated really well and slid it into the 325 degree oven for the 2 hour cook time. I checked it every 1/2 hour and gave it a good stir. I do have to warn you, cooked cabbage does not make the house smell too fabulous. Kind of the same thing as cooked broccoli or cauliflower.

The end result was awesome. I pretty much ate braised cabbage and goat cheese for days… as a side with every single meal, minus breakfast.

I preferred using small crumbles of goat cheese, compared to the “dollop” mentioned in the food.com recipe. Bandera used small crumbles too.

I have also made Claire Robinson’s Braised Red Cabbage before and loved that one as well (One of the 5 ingredients is bacon) –  I guess I just dig cabbage. How about you? Are you a cooked cabbage fan? If not, I swear – braising it makes a world of difference in flavor. Add the goat cheese and it’s heaven on a plate.