Sauerkraut and Kielbasa Casserole

 

I squeezed a really delicious casserole into our dinner menu just before the weather got too nice to think of anything but salads and grilled foods. Actually, I made this recipe twice because I wasn’t quite happy with the way the potatoes turned out the first time around.

Okay, I’ll back up just a second. You see, if this casserole, which is mostly stuffed with sauerkraut and turkey kielbasa, is really a potpie, then thinly-sliced potatoes are its crust. They are shingled in overlapping layers over the top of everything. In the original recipe, they were Yukon gold potatoes and they were supposed to get brown and crispy. I found that, while the potatoes did brown nicely, they didn’t really cook through. A lot of their crunchiness was due to their un-cooked-ed-ness.

 

And so when I tried this again I covered the dish for the first 45 minutes of cooking and the potatoes did cook. Well, I pulled one of my usual unscientific tricks of changing two variables at once and not only covered the dish the second time around, but also used a different variety of potato. I swapped in russet potatoes for the Yukon golds.

I’m confident in recommending either potato, however, and I’m also confident in recommending covering the baking dish to get the potatoes nicely cooked. Whatever you do with the potatoes, though, the best thing about this casserole is the classic combination of sausage and sauerkraut. There’s also plenty of onion and an apple in the mix, along with flavor boosts from caraway and fennel seeds, spicy brown mustard, white wine, and cider vinegar. 

 

While casserole season may be at an end, this dish is still a delicious crowd-pleaser no matter the weather. It’s a new take on old-school flavors. And satisfying like old-school comfort food.

Sauerkraut and Kielbasa Casserole

Adapted from Eating Well magazine, Sept/Oct 2012

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 large onion, sliced

1 teaspoon caraway seed

½ teaspoon fennel seed

1 large apple, chopped

1 cup dry white wine

13 ounces turkey kielbasa, sliced ½ inch thick

3 tablespoons cider vinegar

2 ½ cups sauerkraut, drained well

1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1-1 ½ pounds Yukon gold or russet potatoes (peeled if desired)

1 tablespoon butter, melted

½ kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a 3-quart casserole dish with cooking spray or grease it with oil or butter.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook about 5 minutes or until just beginning to brown.

3. Lightly crush the caraway and fennel seeds with a mortar and pestle or a knife. Add them to the onion. Add the apple and wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until most of the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat and stir in the kielbasa, cider vinegar, sauerkraut, mustard and black pepper. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

5. Thinly slice the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, butter and salt. Toss the potatoes to coat well. Arrange the potato slices, tightly overlapping them, over the sauerkraut mixture.

6. Cover and bake at 400 F for 45 minutes. Remove the cover and continue baking 15 minutes more or until the potatoes are very tender and getting brown. Remove from the oven and let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

Makes about 6 servings.

Another recipe like this one: Potato and Sauerkraut Cakes

One year ago: Wheat Sandwich Bread

Southwest Flavored Egg Bake

Are you in the mood for brunch? It seems like spring does that to us somehow. Maybe it’s the success of Easter celebrations. Who knows? But this baked egg dish is a great one for brunch, or for breakfast, or any meal, really.

This dish is quite simple, involving an easy mixture of eggs and cheese. I gave mine a boost with pickled jalapeno chiles (the original recipe called for canned green chiles, which would also be quite good.) I also added cilantro and what’s pretty much my favorite spice, smoked paprika.

 

You could change up the flavors however you’d like. I would leave in the cottage cheese and some other cheese in the same proportion as they are here, because the texture is just right. You could substitute a mixture of chili powder and cumin for the smoked paprika. You could also go to a different geographical location by swapping the cheddar for Gruyere or Parmesan, then substituting fresh herbs for the spices. You could even minimalize and make it very plain.

This delicious egg bake goes together quickly, and, while it needs a little over half an hour to bake, you could get some other tasty things together during that time if you do decide to take on brunch. Just serve it with a muffin, scone or toast if you want a quieter breakfast, or go with salad and fried potatoes on the side for lunch or supper. I was a little surprised by how easy, delicious and endlessly adaptable this dish is. I might just adopt a habit of making brunch!

Southwest Flavored Egg Bake

Adapted from Rachel Ray Every Day magazine

Feel free to substitute flavors to your heart’s desire.

5 large eggs

2 tablespoons melted butter

¼ cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 cup cottage cheese

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons minced pickled jalapeno chiles

½ cup chopped cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with butter.

2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk the eggs until well-beaten. Whisk in the butter. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, salt, and smoked paprika. Stir in the cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, jalapenos and the cilantro. Pour into the prepared baking dish.

3. Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Makes 4 main dish servings (or 8-12 smaller bites). Leftovers warm nicely in the microwave.

Other recipes like this one: Parsnip Souffle with Gruyere, Spinach and Feta Souffle, Spinach Custard Pie

One year ago: Hazelnut Latte Muffins

Whole Wheat Butterscotch Bars

I’m way into cookies and bars. Not as a trend-follower, but as a life-long devotee. There are a lot of desserts I can walk right on by even if I think they would be pretty delicious, but, boy is it hard for me to pass up a plate of bars or cookies. In fact, I don’t make them as often as I’d like, unless I know where I can take them to share, for fear that I will eat them all.

These bars are no exception to my I-love-cookies rule. They’re based on the popular whole wheat chocolate chip cookie recipe published by Kim Boyce in Good to the Grain. I love those chocolate chip cookies, too, although I can’t say they’re my go-to chocolate chip cookies. (These are.) One day, some months ago, I dumped all the partial bags of baking chips into that whole wheat cookie batter: a couple kinds of chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch.

My favorite bites were the ones with the butterscotch chips in them, so I decided to make a cookie just with those. Then I started thinking that pecans would go well in there, too. I made those cookies and they were delicious! I was going to post that recipe here (and I do give those alternate baking directions below), but before I could get good photos, I decided to try making pan cookies (aka bars), by baking the whole batch of batter in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

Quite a success, I must say! The nutty richness of the whole wheat flour pairs well with the butterscotch-y goodness of dark brown sugar and butterscotch baking chips. The bars get quite crisp on the outside, just like the cookies, and stay really soft but not quite gooey on the inside. The contrast between crispy and chewy is so pronounced that if the bars are cut too small, they kind of crumble apart. They’re best when cut into a generous square, thick and moist with a crunchy-crumbly outer layer. 

 

It might just be a little too easy to indulge in these goodies. Yes, the whole wheat flour with its higher Whole Food Quotient may have some health benefits over white, all-purpose flour, but there’s still some serious butter and sugar going on here. I may be in trouble!

Whole Wheat Butterscotch Pecan Bars

Based on a recipe in Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (11 ounce) package butterscotch baking chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. (If not baking right away, you can preheat the oven just before baking.) In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir together with a whisk to combine well.

2. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or another bowl if using a hand mixer or spoon). Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat, using the paddle attachment for the mixer, on medium speed until well-blended and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Continue beating until very smooth. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until just moistened. Stir in the pecans and butterscotch chips.

3. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil. Press the cookie batter evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake at 350 F (or cover and refrigerate for up to a day and allow to come back to room temperature before baking) for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the middle of the bars comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes about 2 dozen bars.

Note: To make cookies instead of bars, scoop the batter in about 3-tablespoon portions onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 16-20 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Other recipes like this one: Milk Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies, Cocoa Chocolate Chip Brownies, Irish Cream Brownies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Revel Bars, Peanut Butter Butterfinger Blondies

One year ago: Spinach Custard Pie