Recipes, Main eventsDave BattenSausage, Cabbage, Slow cook, Sauerkraut, meat

Sausages and sauerkraut

Recipes, Main eventsDave BattenSausage, Cabbage, Slow cook, Sauerkraut, meat
Sausages and sauerkraut
 

This recipe relies on a good meaty sausage. You need something with a lot of flavour and a firm texture. I highly recommend seeking out some Kielbasa if you can. Check a local Polish shop or larger supermarkets.

This sausage comes in a few different varieties. You are looking for either a hunters or farmhouse style - kiełbasa wiejska. Both are cured but respond well to a slow cook, imparting their flavour to the ingredients around them.

Here they are cooked and served on a bed of cabbage, sweetened with chunks of celeriac and spiked with sharp sauerkraut. The slow cooking mellows everything together and produces a wonderfully filling, smokey dish.

This recipe is very easy, a little upfront chopping and then leave to cook either in a slow cooker, or in a low slow oven. Leftovers, if they exist, keep really well.

Serve with a good dollop of mustard to offset the richness and a serving of rich Germanic potato salad.

 

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Step 1 - Prep your sausages

  • Melt half of the butter in a big frying pan

  • Add the sausages, in batches if need be

  • Fry for a couple of minutes on each side

  • Remove to a plate once they are browned and starting to plump up

 

Step 2 - Prep your veg

  • Chop the onion into a medium dice

  • Take the core out of the cabbage and thinly slice, like you are making coleslaw

  • Top and tail the celeriac and peel, cut into a rough 1 cm dice

Step 3 - Sweat!

  • Melt the rest of the butter in the same frying pan

  • Fry the onion over a medium high heat until lightly browned

  • Add the diced celeriac and crushed garlic and fry for a couple of minutes

  • Tip in the cabbage and toss in the buttery juices

  • Add the sauerkraut, salt and a good grind of black pepper

  • Toss it all together and tip it into the slow cooker

Step 4 - Cook - slowly

  • Add the sausages on top of the cabbage

  • Pop the lid on and slow cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 3 hours

When ready remove the sausages to a plate and give the cabbage a good stir. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Serve the sausages on a bed of the cabbage, don’t forget the mustard!

Sausages and sauerkraut

  • 12 Keilbasa smoked sausages

  • 50g unsalted butter

  • 1 medium onion

  • 150g celeriac

  • 2 cloves garlic

  • 600g Green cabbage

  • Salt and pepper