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.

 

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