dishes with sauerkraut

I like to braise it with a tiny bit of onion and white vine, then add thyme, bay leves, honey and prunes and then roast it in the oven until it's caramelized. It goes well with roasted meets, especially roasted pork, and also sausages.

I make my sauerkraut, too. I love to roast it in the oven with some apples, a shot or two of gin, three or four onions, slivered, bay leaf and white wine, turning it occasionally to let it get brown throughout. I stir into lentil soup, usually one made with French green lentils with ham or sausage in it, but I think it would be really good with a vegetarian lentil soup that's full of herbs and aromatics, made with a good sturdy homemade vegetable stock. In fact, that's on my menu for later this week! Here's the (non-vegetarian) recipe I posted on FOOD52 last year: http://food52.com/recipes/9569_sauerkraut_lentil_soup
Remember not to add salt until the very end, as the sauerkraut (even when well rinsed) with bring salt to the dish. ;o)

Another possibility is kapusniak. Google for recipes.

My mother used to make a Polish stew called bigos that used sauerkraut. It has sausage and other meats, though. You can make a good vegetarian pierogi with it, too.

I grew up with sauerkraut served as a side dish at Thanksgiving. Sounds crazy, but it's the perfect foil to all the rich food at the table. I make it by caramelizing an onion first, then adding the kraut, caraway seed, a Tbsp or so of brown sugar and about 1/3 cup or so of the turkey drippings or stock then heat it through. My favorite sandwich after Thanks giving is leftover turkey, sauerkraut and cranberry sauce on rye. Heaven, I tell ya!

I found this recipe in my files--unfortunately, I have no idea where it came from so I can’t give credit.


Sauerkraut with chickpeas

4-6 Servings

150 g. chick peas
50 g. dried apricots
1 orange
Salt
2 onions
150 g. root vegetables (carrots, celery root or parsley root)
2 Tbl olive oil
2-4 Tablespoons curry powder
2 cups vegetable broth
300 g. sauerkraut
200 g. pineapple
pepper
1 small mango
200 g. yogurt

Soak chick peas in water overnight.

Cut apricots in strips. Grate 1 teaspoon orange peel. Juice it and soak the apricots in the juice.

Drain chickpeas, rinse, add 300 ml fresh water and cook for 1 ½ - 2 hours until soft. Salt the chick peas and let them cool.

Dice the onions and root vegetables, saute in olive oil, salt to taste and fry for 3 - 5 minutes. Add curry powder, stir and fry until fragrant.

Add vegetable broth and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

Chop sauerkraut coarsely, dice the pineapple and add to the vegetables. Add the chick peas, apricots, orange juice and simmer 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and orange peel.

Dice the mango, mix with yogurt, salt, and pepper and serve with the sauerkraut.

Sauerkraut is usually served with meat in Central Europe. Smoked sausage, smoked pork--they combine so well with sauerkraut. You could make sauerkraut and serve it with a bread dumpling (with a bit of bacon for flavor). I often use it as a salad--raw sauerkraut, some onion, garlic and caraway seeds, tossed with pumpkin seed oil. That goes well with a Bratwurst or other sausage. To cook sauerkraut, I dice bacon, add to an enamel pan along with butter, chopped onions and garlic. I toss in a bay leaf, some caraway or juniper seeds, and pour in enough liquid (beer, apple juice, water) to cover. I cook it for a long time--several hours--over low heat. Just before it is ready to serve, I grate a medium sized starchy potato on the finest side of a grater and add to the sauerkraut mixture. Stir until the sauerkraut thickens. Do not cook much after adding the potato because the potato will stick to the pan and burn.

An alternative sounds odd, but it is good. Start with onions, bacon and garlic as described above, add sauerkraut and chopped pineapple. Add water or juice and cook until the sauerkraut is tender. The pineapple adds an interesting sweet-sour dimension.

Also not vegetarian, but here's a good one that incorporates sauerkraut:
http://www.food52.com/recipes/15588_porkandricestuffed_cabbage_rolls

Choucroute garnie; definitely not vegetarian. This comes from the Alsace region of France. Basic ingredients; salt pork, bay leaf, duck fat, juniper berries, either boudin blanc or a nasty garlic sausage, white wine. Alsace combines the traditions of both French and German cooking because at various times it's been part of both countries.

Hungarian and Czech sauerkraut is traditionally seasoned with caraway seeds - my Hungarian grandmother simmered it with sauteed onions, grated apple and caraway. Also, pierogi with a stuffing of sauerkraut, potato and onion - delicious with a dollop of sour cream.