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Sweet Sauerkraut Casserole
We have a thing for sauerkraut here in the Netherlands. You’ll mainly see it mashed up with potatoes. Not to mention served with smoked sausage, bacon bits and gravy. It’s great.
I like to add a little sweetness to my sauerkraut, like my ham, sauerkraut & apple rolls. I also make a mean sauerkraut dish with curry gewürz—a curry spiced ketchup—and banana slices. Sounds totally nuts but it tastes really good.
Anyhow, I still had some sauerkraut that needed to be used up and in a sudden overwhelming urge to devour something sweet (it happens) I searched my pantry until I found… one lousy can of pineapple slices. Suffice to say I combined the two.
With fantastic results! Simple, sweet, hearty and perfect for a weeknight dinner, especially when you have children.
Ingredients:
14oz minced pork/beef
1 pound potatoes
1 small onion
1 large garlic clove
1/2 red chili pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp curry powder
1 pound sauerkraut
1 can pineapple (roughly 10 oz)
freshly cracked black pepper
2 oz butter
Directions:
I’ve used half pork half beef because I didn’t want the dish to get overly dry.
Season the meat with the salt, pepper, paprika powder, nutmeg and curry powder. Use 2 tsp salt if you like your meat salty and 1 tsp if you like it less salty.
I wanted to add a little pizzaz so I finely minced 1/2 a deseeded red chili pepper. It’s not gonna make it hot or anything, don’t worry.
Finely mince a small onion.
I got a garlic king for free, on air miles! I love our air miles program.
Grate or finely mince one large garlic clove.
Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water until fork tender.
The sauerkraut. This is the good stuff. (I sound like a dealer)
Open up a can of pineapple. You’ll need a few slices, feel free to eat the rest while you’re cooking.
I’m adding the liquid to the sauerkraut along with 2 cups of water. It’ll sweeten it up a bit. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Finely mince 4 or 5 slices.
The potatoes and sauerkraut will be boiling about now.
Brown the minced meat.
While breaking it up with a spatula.
As soon as the meat starts to release some of its fat you add the garlic and onion.
Continue to cook it until the meat loses its rawness. Don’t overcook it or it’ll get dry. Drain most of the fat but not all of it!
Transfer the meat to an oven dish.
Chances are it’s time to drain the sauerkraut.
Use the pan you browned the meat in to heat the pineapple pieces along with the chili pepper. Cook it for a minute or two.
Top the meat with the pineapple and add the sauerkraut.
Drain the potatoes and use a masher to lightly break them up. Do not mash them too much, we want to keep them coarse.
Finish the casserole with the coarsely mashed potatoes and top them with tiny pieces of butter and some freshly cracked black pepper.
You can make this casserole a day ahead of time as well. Just keep it in the fridge and bake it 10 to 15 minutes longer.
Pop it in a preheated oven and bake at 375F° (175C°) for 30 minutes.
The flavor of the spiced up meat, the sharp sauerkraut and the sweet pineapple mingle and create an incredibly tasty casserole that’s still mellow enough for kids to like.
* the potatoes can be replaced with mashed potatoes if you want a creamier casserole.
| Sweet & Spicy Sauerkraut | |
| Ingredients |
1 pound potatoes 1 small onion 1 large garlic clove 1/2 red chili pepper 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp curry powder 1 pound sauerkraut 1 can pineapple (roughly 12 oz) freshly cracked black pepper 2 oz butter |
| Directions |
Finely mince an onion, the deseeded chili pepper and grate the garlic. Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water until fork tender. Open up the can of pineapple, add the liquid to the sauerkraut along with 2 or 3 cups of water and cook it for 8 to 10 minutes. Finely mince 4 or 5 slices of pineapple. Brown the meat and break it up with a spatula. As soon as the meats starts to release some of its fat you add the onion and garlic. Cook until the meat loses its rawness, drain most of the fat and transfer it to an oven dish. Drain the sauerkraut. Use the pan you browned the meat in to heat the pineapple pieces along with the chili pepper. Cook it for a minute or two. Top the meat with the pineapple and add the sauerkraut. Drain the potatoes and use a masher to lightly break them up. Do not mash them too much, we want to keep them coarse. Finish the casserole with the coarsely mashed potatoes and top them with tiny pieces of butter and some freshly cracked black pepper. Pop it in a preheated oven and bake at 375F° (175C°) for 30 minutes. |
| Meal type: | main course |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Copyright: | © kayotickitchen.com |
20 Comments »
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Wow, I definitely need to get my hands on a garlic masher like that! And I love your nail polish, reminds me of spring (6 degrees over here, I definitely could use a bit of spring.)
Hmm, I could try this recipe once I think of a substitute for pineapple. My entire family cringes when they see fruit being added to a main dish. The general opinion here is that anything that’s not traditional = bad. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds, but I do need my crazy food fix every once in a while xD
@ Iren:
Was wondering if someone would notice, I usually don’t wear nail polish :)
Looks good! I love sauerkraut and pineapple together. And yay for airmiles! Would you recommend that garlic ring? Or was spelling it like ‘garlic King’ an accident? I’d like to know as I still have quite a few airmiles waiting to be spent as well ;)
@Ilse:
It’s actually called a garlic king. I like it, but I don’t think it works any easier than a garlic press. What I do like is that it cleans up a lot easier.
1500 airmiles :)
Oh haha it is actually called that? Google went all ‘did you mean garlic ring?’ on me. 1500 Airmiles is not too bad. I like my fingers garlic free and hate how messy my garlic press is (the garlic gets pressed more to the sides than through the ‘mesh’), so I might try it out. Thanks for the tip! :)
@ Ilse:
I noticed them selling it here and was blown away by the price. There’s no way I’d ever spend this much on a garlic press.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leifheit-Proline-Garlic-Cutter-Stainless/dp/B003GISD0W
Wow, shipping included that’s as good as 40 euro. Madness!! I wonder who’d pay so much for something that is (let’s be honest) just as easily done with a chef’s knife or a good garlic press. Me being the kitchen-gadget-addict that I am though, I think I’ll order one from the airmiles program :) Just because it’s different and it looks cool.
@Ilse:
I’m even worse; I use 1 euro Ikea graters :)
I’m a kitchen gadget addict pur sang, but prices like that are crazy.
Sounds very interesting! I’m a big sauerkraut fan!
As the Ham, Apple and Sauerkraut roll-ups have become a staple in our home, I’m betting this one will too!
Hope you are doing well! I miss talking with you, Kay!
WHO but you would come up with something so simple, yet so divine?! This will go over SO well in my house! Thank you!!
I’d love you to share the banana/ketchup recipe too!!
Love sauerkraut and apples so why not pineapples. Brilliant!
Hi Kay! I am so happy Dara from Cookin’ Canuck shared you with her readers. I will now be following your awesome blog. This kraut casserole looks wonderful!
try to eat sauerkraut as a salad :) with chopped onion, grated apple and carrot, bit of sugar and olive oil – it’s absolutely delicious! here in poland we love it and serve it with fish for example :)
This looks SO good! I have only one specific meal that I serve sauerkraut with–bratwurst/sauerkraut/garlic mashed potatoes/spaetzle, and now I’m wondering why I’ve never thought to serve it with other dishes? Hello me! I do always cook it with an apple sliced up though, to just give it a bit of sweetness. Love this!
What an innovative casserole! Wouldn’t have thought of mixing pineapple and sauerkraut but I can definitely see how it would work.
I made this dish tonight, not really certain what to expect and certainly not expecting my toddler to eat it, as he usually turns up his nose at sauerkraut, much to the dismay of my Polish husband… However, this dish was loved by all! In fact, my husband put it on his top ten comfort foods list and my toddler cleaned his plate! I used fresh pineapple instead of the canned stuff and used all beef instead of pork/beef mix only b/c that’s what I had on hand. Thanks for sharing this recipe–it will become a regular in my house, that’s for sure. I would love you to share your banana/curry recipe as well :)
One question for you, though–why do you not provide metric measurements? I live in Canada and all meat, produce, canned goods, etc. are all sold by metric measurements, and I thought it was the same in Europe, no?
I would never have thought to use sauerkraut this way but it sounds so good!
I searched on line and found the manufacturer for the Garlic King garlic press.
The company is LEIFHEIT. Their website is leifheitus.com The model for garlic press is #23054. It sells for 15 dollars there. However they are out of stock as of Sept 30,2011. Thought this might help to ones that want to buy this. Seems a lot easier to use and clean,than the press plunger models.
love the jars!! also, Ace and I fehnsiid all of your strawberry jelly last week. We loved it!!! It’s not the same going back to store bought