Sauerkraut

At the risk of fantasmo morphing into a food blog, I have yet another yum-yum to share. Yes, I did just type yum-yum. Aaaand I was also sick of staring at an empty mug. It was becoming too symbolic and so now it is getting shoved down.

Moving on. What do you do with a partially used head of cabbage, a smoked sausage and absolutely no motivation to do anything complicated? You wish you had some store-bought sauerkraut and then you sit and pout because you don't. Then you suck it up and say, how hard can it be to make it? Answer: not hard at all.

What you will need:

1/2 head of cabbage
1 medium onion
1 apple
5 small white potatoes
3-4 strips bacon
1 whole smoked sausage
1 cup vinegar
1 to 2 cups water or stock
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. caraway seeds (optional)

To make:

Chop the cabbage and onion into fine strips. Finely dice the apple, and cube the potatoes in to bite-size chunks. Mince the raw bacon and cut up your sausage. In a large pan brown the bacon and sausage, then remove from pan and set aside. Using the same pan, add the cabbage, onions and apple. Salt and pepper to taste and brown for approximately 5 minutes over medium high heat. Add the vinegar and 1 cup of stock to deglaze the bottom of the pan. Let simmer for another five minutes then add in your potatoes and remaining ingredients. Cover and let simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes or until the potatoes and cabbage have started to soften. Mix the sausage and bacon back in, and add more stock/water if the mixture is getting too dry. Cover again and let simmer until the potatoes have completely cooked through. Take off the lid and let the extra moisture cook off (this shouldn't take very long).

Serve and enjoy! I found the sauerkraut still had that staple zing, but the flavor was so much more complex than the traditional fermented kind. The bacon and apple bring a smoky sweetness to the show. Ava cleaned her plate, and if you can get an eight-year-old to polish off sour cabbage in addition to mauling the sausage, you know you have a winner!