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.