Nigel Slater's recipe for roasted red cabbage, oranges and almonds

This is a great bowl of sweet, crunchy and hot sour winter salad to eat as a light lunch or as an accompaniment to grilled chicken.

Finely chop a quarter of a medium red cabbage leaf, removing tough stalks as you go. Put the cabbage in a bowl. Rub and grate 100g of crunchy carrots into julienne. Slice 1 dill thinly and add it to the other greens.

Peel 40g of ginger, then grate very finely, almost into a puree, and stir it into 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Pour in the vegetables, stir gently then set aside for 20 minutes or so.

Halve and seed 100g of black grapes. Finely dice 1 ripe red chili, removing the seeds if you wish. Add the wine and sliced chilies to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Remove the skin from 2 blood oranges with a sharp knife, then remove the halves and set aside. Reserve as much juice from the oranges as you can while peeling the fruit.

In a shallow skillet, toast 50g of skinned almonds until golden.

Now make the sauce. In a small jar with screw-on lid, combine 2 tsp wheat mustard, white wine vinegar from the marinated cabbage, well-ground salt, 2 tsp good quality diluted honey, 3 tbsp reserved orange juice and 4 tbsp groundnut oil. Grind some black pepper, then screw on the lid and shake until the sauce is incorporated.

Pour the sauce over the cabbage, add the roasted almonds and orange slices and transfer to a large serving bowl. Serves 2-3

Stir the vegetables occasionally to keep them moist with the marinade.

Don't take your eyes off the almonds as they can burn in a minute.

You can also swap some of the cabbage for raw brussels sprouts or bamboo shoots.

This is a great base for a large salad.