My recipe book collection also consists of six folders
jam packed full of magazine recipes which I have collected over the years, all
indexed and separated and coded, it took an awful lot of time and effort, but
it was worth it, most of the recipes are in German and I fancied finally giving
some of them a go, but I wanted something that wasn’t widely known as being
traditionally German. I set myself this task thinking that it would be a
challenge, I tend to get bored really easily and move onto something else. For example
18 years ago I started doing a large cross stitch, I designed it, drew it, put
it on graph paper so I could transfer it to the canvas, I bought all the
colours and set about doing it… It is now sat in my Mum’s attic, I got bored
and quit doing it. So when I started this new project I was concerned it would
be another one of those half-finished things that looms over me making me feel
guilty and uneasy for the rest of my life until I complete it. However it was
surprisingly easy although time consuming. Anyway this next recipe uses one of
my favourite German ingredients the “bratwurst” as long as they are the fresh
ones and not the long life ones. It’s not a recipe I would have recognised as
being German, but it had what I would call German ingredients so ticked all the
boxes for what I wanted to achieve.
Bratwurst
in Beer sauce with Savoy Cabbage
700g Savoy
Cabbage
1 leek
1 carrot
2tbsp butter
125ml instant
veg stock
Salt and
pepper
1tsp paprika
powder
For the
bratwurst
1tbsp oil
600g bratwurst
20g bread
100ml veg
stock
150ml beer
2 bay leaves
2tbsp molasses
Salt and
pepper
2tbsp apple or
beer vinegar
50ml cream
1.
Remove any wilted or tired looking leaves from your
cabbage, going length ways cut your cabbage into quarters and cut out the fat
middle stalk, then cut the cabbage into thin strips. Wash the leek, cut in half
length ways, wash it again and cut it into strips too, peel the carrot and
julienne.
2.
Put 1tbsp of butter and the oil into a pot and heat, sauté
the vegetables. Add the stock, salt, pepper and paprika, cover and cook on a
high heat for 10 minutes. The vegetables should have some bite to them.
3.
In the meantime in a large skillet heat the oil, for the
bratwurst. Cook the bratwurst for about 6 minutes, shaking the pan every now
and again to turn the sausages. Remove the bratwurst and keep warm.
4.
Remove the crust from the bread and crumble. Add the
stock, beer, bay leaves and the crumbled bread to the pan. Cook until the bread
crumbs have dissolved and the sauce thickens, season with the syrup, salt,
pepper and vinegar, mix in the cream – add the bratwurst to the sauce and leave
until it gets really hot.
5.
Season the veg with a little butter, salt and pepper
if desired, then serve with the bratwurst and sauce.
