North Fork Red Cabbage Braised with Red Onions and Local Rosé

It's hard to find and cook recipes that use 100 percent "Nork" (North Fork) ingredients. But here's an easy-to-make cabbage dish that's largely local.

• 1 head of local red cabbage
• 1 red onion, preferably local, from farmstand
• about 1/2 cup of Blanc de Noir, or any Long Island rosé wine
• salt, pepper, chicken stock or chicken base (optional)
• 1 teaspoon of sugar, preferably natural organic
• about a half cup of dried cranberries (optional)

I find that about two-thirds of a head of cabbage is enough for this dish. First, cut the cabbage into manageable large chunks, for example into three to four large pieces. Then slice the cabbage into thin, fairly uniform strips. As is the case with coleslaw (a trick I learned from a David Rosengarten cookbook), the thinner sliced the better. Slice the red onion the same way.

Put about a half cup of water into a heavy large saucepan with a lid, and add a little chicken base, or else use a half cup of chicken stock, or just use plain water if you have nothing else. Add the sliced cabbage and onion, the half cup of Comtesse Thérèse Blanc de Noir, and the teaspoon of sugar. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Stir in some dried cranberries, if using. Cover tightly, put the heat on low, set the timer for 45 minutes, then come back when the timer goes off.

It's that easy. And delicious. I plan to serve it with a roasted local chicken from poultry farm in Calverton, herb stuffing, and mashed local potatoes for a winter dinner.

The reason I use Blanc de Noir, one of my rosé wines, is as follows. (a) I had an opened bottle in the refrigerator. (b) The recipe usually calls for apple cider vinegar, but I personally don't like that very sweet-sour taste in cabbage too much. I wanted mine slightly more neutral, or even savoury, rather than sweet-sour. So I substituted Blanc de Noir, a fruity, light rosé with just a touch of sweetness, for the apple cider vinegar. But you can use any Long Island rosé. The teaspoon of sugar and the sweetness and tartness in the dried cranberries also contributes to the original concept, without being overly sweet-sour.

Remember too, the original dish probably came from Germany, where they grew a lot of cabbage and probably also grew a lot of apples and had plenty of apple cider vinegar on hand.  Here on the North Fork, we have cabbage but we don't have much, if any, local apple cider vinegar. So, it is necessary to adapt the recipe to the ingredients on hand.