Fennel, cabbage and smoked sausage are a match made in heaven, especially when enriched with white wine and chicken stock. The end result of this moreish autumn recipe is a perfect balance of sweet, smokey and salty. I like serving mine with mash - instant mash works great for this dish as it's so effortlessly creamy.
Step 1
The prep for this dish is very quick. All you need to do - if you're using instant mash as I suggest - is chop your cabbage and garlic.
Remove the cabbage's inner stem by cutting the cabbage into quarters and cutting out the thickest part. Then proceed to dice as shown below.
To avoid making a mess, I recommend dicing a quarter at a time and tipping the chopped cabbage into a bowl as you go.
The garlic can be mashed, finely chopped or grated.
Step 2
Gently heat your oil and butter in a medium cooking pot until the butter melts, then grind in your pepper along with the half tablespoon of fennel powder.
Keep the heat on low, stirring, for 30 seconds or so. Then add in your garlic, followed by a splash of water. This is a good time to start boiling your kettle.
The garlic should sizzle but not burn, and a pleasant aroma should fill the room.
Step 3
Once the garlic has cooked for 30 seconds to a minute, add the cabbage.
Keep stirring, slowly, lifting from the bottom of the pot to make sure no garlic is burning down there. After about a minute, add the wine.
Step 4
Add around 500-600ml of boiling water along with your stock pot or stock cube.
You may choose to combine your stock and water in a jug first. However, I find this only adds faff without m, especially when using a stock improving the final result, especially when opting for a stock pot over a stock cube.
Step 5
Turn up the heat and boil everything for 10-15 minutes or until the cabbage is nice and tender. Start boiling your smoked sausage too as per the instructions on the packet.
This is a good time to add in the sea salt along with anything else you fancy. I find some little cubes of carrot work well, or some mixed herbs if you have them lying around.
Step 6
Carefully remove your smoked sausage from the packet and cut roughly into slices while it's still warm but not hot. Add the slices - I find about half or just over half of the sausage should do the trick - into the cabbage and stir.
Serve your fennel cabbage and smoked sausage with instant mash - or homemade if you have the time to make it super creamy!
