Red cabbage, pear, blackberry and hazelnut salad

Autumn

There are some things in nature that cannot be synthesized – the striking hue of a firm, red cabbage is one of them. Splitting a whole head never gets tiresome, no matter how many times I’ve done it. The intricacies of its insides serve only to baffle and dizzy me. Red cabbage is particularly nice eaten raw. It has a pleasant, crisp texture and it’s pleasingly juicy, but you need to slice it quite thinly. I like to dress the lacy shreds before they meet the other ingredients – this helps to ‘soften’ the cabbage, in more ways than one. Ripe, sugary pears and dark, fruity blackberries complement the cabbage’s crunch, and roasted hazelnuts echo it.

Serves 4

Ingredients

3–4 ripe pears (depending on size), peeled, quartered and cored
A couple of handfuls of blackberries
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp runny honey
¼ firm red cabbage (about 150g/5½oz), very thinly sliced
A handful of roasted skinned hazelnuts, lightly bashed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing

1 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 tsp light brown soft sugar or runny honey
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Method

Begin by putting all the dressing ingredients in a jar, season with salt and pepper and secure the lid. Give everything a good old shake-up to combine, then set aside.

Slice each pear quarter in half again. Place the pear pieces in a bowl
with the blackberries, then spoon over the cider vinegar and honey
and season with a little salt and pepper. Gently mingle the fruit together with your hands.

Break up the cabbage slices into a bowl. Spoon over half the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Tumble the cabbage through the dressing and seasoning. This will help to soften and sweeten it.

Finally, loosely combine the cabbage, pears and blackberries and heap onto a plate or platter or into a bowl. Scatter over the roasted hazelnuts, trickle with the remaining dressing and serve.

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