Sweet & Sauerkraut

Looking for something festive to do between Labor Day and Halloween?  Why not try a holiday Germans have been enjoying for (two) centuries: Oktoberfest!

Yes, it's an excuse to drink beer like you do already, but it's also an opportunity to cook and eat... sauerkraut!

No, wait!  Come back!  As a prepared dish, sauerkraut is much more than just the shredded stuff you dump out of the jar and heat up.  No, that would be like boiling lasagna noodles, pouring them in a bowl, and calling them lasagna.  The sauerkraut in the jar is only the foundation for a swell casserole-like dish.

You need to accept that sauerkraut is sour and salty, and add ingredients to round it out with all the flavors the mouth can enjoy, for a complete dining experience.  Some people add wine to their sauerkraut, some people add sugar, but I use apples, which are awesome, healthy, high in fiber, and contribute to the autumnal theme.

Here is my recipe:
Serves: 4 hungry people, probably more
Time: About an hour

Ingredients (in order of appearance):
cooking oil
4 sweet apples, chopped (maybe more), and you can leave the skins on
2 medium onions, chopped
chopped bacon, or other pork product like sausages (if you're not vegetarian)
apple cider or water, as needed
vegetarian sausages (if you are vegetarian), maybe cut into short sections
1 32-oz. jar of Sauerkraut
1 T caraway seeds (if your wife will let you)
1 T peppercorns (if your wife will let you)
1 T dill
1 T paprika (sweet and/or spicy)

Directions:
First, get a big pot.  Put some cooking oil in it; I like to use olive oil.

Okay, the only hard parts about this are chopping up the apples and onions.  You chop those up, throw them in the pot, crank up the heat, and wait for the apples and onions to basically go mushy.  Stir occasionally to make sure your apples don't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.  Add some apple cider (if you want your dish sweeter) or water as necessary to keep your stuff from sticking, but try not to make soup.  Add your bacon or other pork at this stage, if you're using them; they're just for flavoring the overall dish.

You've got some time, now.  Stir the pot occasionally to prevent burning and sticking, but take this moment to chat with your friends in the kitchen over drinks.  Kiss your spouse.  Maybe prepare a side dish (see below).

When the apples are nice and mushy, they should be releasing their yummy sugars into the pot, and we can add the sauerkraut.  Yes, do it.  Unleash the sauerkraut!  Mix it up!  Add your vegetarian sausages if you have them.  If you have really expensive refrigerated sauerkraut, you can take some time to let the sauerkraut cook.  If you got the regular shelf kind, it's already cooked, and we're just letting the flavors mingle so the sweet apples and savory onions blend with the sour and salty sauerkraut.

This is also a good time to mix in the caraway seeds and peppercorns; these seeds are pretty solid, and they will need some time to let the warm liquid in the pot draw out their spicy essential oils.

Stir occasionally to prevent sticking and facilitate flavor mixing.

During the last few minutes of cooking, mix in the dill and paprika.  These shouldn't need too much time to mingle or cook.

And once the dill and paprika reconstitute and the flavors mingle, it's ready to serve.

You can pair this with beer or cider (sweet or hard).  If you want to add a starch as a side dish, consider soft pretzels (popular at Oktoberfest), cheesy spaetzle (a swiss cheese-and-egg noodle casserole), or salted boiled potatoes.

In closing, have a great Oktoberfest meal, and enjoy showing all your friends a great new way to enjoy this wholesome and healthy food.