Purple Cabbage

New Year’s Day dinner for nine was always going to create apprehension (is the beef joint big enough? have we enough carrots? is the swede too puny?) and the dining table’s wonky legs suffering a catastrophic failure on New Year’s Eve racked the level up a notch, however the old folding banquet table (kept for pasting wallpaper) was pressed back into service and the food was looking just about sufficient before, in clearing some space on the work tops I took what I thought was a bowl of vegetable peelings outside and emptied it into the compost bin, then stood in horror as the carefully prepared and copious purple cabbage slid inexorably into the heap; reckoning the five second rule applied, I was able to rescue about 75% of it (leaving a thin insulating layer to the slugs) and give it a good rinse before steaming and serving as part of a very successful evening meal.