Braised Chicken and Cabbage

A few weeks ago, my mother in law brought over the largest head of cabbage I have ever seen.  This monster was at least a foot in diameter, and even when I cut it into pieces, it took up nearly one entire shelf in my refrigerator.

In my household, I'm the only one that likes cabbage.  My family won't touch anything cabbage related.  Even coleslaw is not considered a side dish to them, but something that gets scraped off the plate immediately (usually onto mine because I quite like it) and the place where it had been gets wiped clean from contamination.  So, what to do with all this crisp cabbage taking up so much room in my fridge?

Douse it in beer and hide it beneath something they do like.  Duh.

I served the chicken, which was so moist and tender it fell off the bone, on top of a bed of slightly sweet cabbage, and they raved about it.  I did not tell them it was cabbage, and they did not ask.  Score!

Honestly, I think the dark meat benefited most from the braising liquid, soaking up more flavor than the white meat, even though the white meat was quite tasty, tender, and moist.  If you have no preference for light or dark meat, go ahead and use 4 lbs of thighs and legs in this dish.

This chicken and cabbage was served with Roasted Squash and Cauliflower and it was a comforting, hearty dish on a cold, rainy late fall evening.

Braised Chicken and Cabbage
serves 6

• 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 4 lbs chicken parts
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5-6 cups green cabbage, roughly chopped
• 1 large red onion, halved and sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/3 c pure maple syrup
• 1/3 c good quality cider vinegar
• 1 c beer (I used a regular old mid-grade lager)
• 1 Tbs stone ground mustard
• 1 tsp dried thyme

Preheat oven to 400F.

Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat.  Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper.  In batches of a few at a time, sear the chicken parts for a few minutes on each side, or until golden.  Remove and set aside.

In the same dutch oven, add cabbage, onion, garlic, and apple.  Occasionally giving it a stir, cook for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cabbage mixture shrinks in proportion by about 1/3.  Stir in caraway seeds and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, in a bowl or large measuring cup, mix together the maple syrup, cider vinegar, beer, mustard, and thyme.

Nestle the chicken parts into the cabbage mixture.  Pour the syrup/beer mixture over all.

I had extra peeled garlic so I tossed that into the pot, too

Cover and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.