Sauerkraut & Kielbasa New Year's Dinner
Let's start with the basics: Meet Marvin. Marvin is my Mandolin. Marvin... is a blood-thirsty little attention-whore who has zero qualms slicing off the tip of my finger if I don't pay adequate attention to him. Our first interaction... well, it didn't go well.
We have since made up, because I seriously don't know how I sliced veggies without him. Especially onions and their propensity for making me weep uncontrollably, thus preventing me from slicing them as thinly as I'd like.
With Marvin, well, no more unintentional onion chunkery. Just sheer slices of onion-y bliss added to a pot that contains a stick of butter.
Sitting atop Ye Olde Range, I let it cook for about 10 minutes, until the onions get nice and caramelized, that succulent light golden brown. All the better to camouflage them, for those of you with onion-haters in the family. I was once instructed to be sure it's a cold pan to start with: cold pan, cold butter, cold onions. Seems to work.
A little note here about the genesis of this recipe: I got it from a coworker several years ago. She brought in a huge batch of the stuff to a potluck and, well, at the time, I was completely against eating it. I had a complete hate-on for 'kraut, despite my own German heritage. Shamed into finally giving it a try, I immediately changed my tune when I discovered that there was nothing bitter about this dish. It was, and still is, the *only* way I will eat sauerkraut.
Once there's golden brown deliciousness going on in there, add in some gaaaaahlic (minced) and let it cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in the spices: Thyme, Sage, and black pepper.
Stir it all round and let it heat through. Then? Add the sauerkraut. Do. Not. Use. Canned. Seriously. Unless you absolutely cannot find any bagged or glass jarred, avoid the canned kraut like a zombie plague.
Because that's kinda what the canned stuff tastes like, anyway. And no one wants to be reminded of zombies while making dinner.
Oh yes, all of this is going on medium heat. No scorching, but not molasses in winter slow heating either.
While all this is going on, you need to deal with your potatoes. And by "deal", I mean wash, peel, and chop 2 or 3 Yukon Gold lovelies into little 'tater cubes. They're the next to get added.
Heat 'em through. You're not really doing all this to cook them entirely, you're just heating them up so it won't be a shock for them to go into the preheated 275-degree oven you've got prepping while you labor over the stove.
The next thing added to our growing pot of delicious yummeh-ness: the meat.
"Snarkstress," you might be saying, with a skeptical, disbelieving look on your face, "Those aren't kielbasa. Those look disturbingly like Lil' Smokies."
And you'd be right.
Depending on what I have available to me, I do either the full on smoked beef Lil' Smokies, or Polska Kielbasa (about a pound, cut into 1" slices). I stumbled upon the Smokies idea one year when feeling particularly bummed that my local grocery was out of Kielbasa. And you know what? They work perfectly. Just the right size, the right flavor... Plus, they're entirely too damned adorable and deserve more than just a crockpot bbq treatment.
Heat it all through and then pour the whole thing into a big glass casserole dish. Like so.
Loosely cover it with foil and pop it in the oven for 3 to 5 hours.
Yes. I said hours. And I usually go the full 5.
You can't rush awesomeness. And this stuff? Definitely awesome. Your house will smell amazing and the long, slow cooking time takes all the bitter out of the kraut, leaving nothing but mellowed, buttery, meat and potato studded deliciousness.
No, really.
I promise.
Pair it with some bread, if you're feeling daring (we used Hawaiian rolls we had in the fridge) and chow down on the scrumptiousness.
Meal one? A success!
~Snarkstress
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