Oktoberfest

What is October without Oktoberfest? There was an interesting recipe in our local newspaper a few weeks back, so we saved it for just the right time, and tonight we takled German cooking.  Well, sort of.  The recipe called for coarse ground mustard, so I settled for one that looked chunky and had a picture of a guy wearing lederhosen on it (hard to go wrong there, right?) It also called for sauerkraut "not from a can," which, because I know nothing about sauerkraut, made me laugh because we don't buy anything in a can. On the other hand, "fresh sauerkraut" is an oxymoron, isn't it?  I came home from the local organic market with sauerkraut in a glass jar shaped like a barrel, ha ha ha.  Also, the recipe called for two small local red apples.  We got large organic green apples in our delivery, so that's what I used. The dinner was fantastic. I think the caraway seeds added just the right touch. 

Oktoberfest sausages and applekraut

Ingredients:
  ● 1 tbsp butter or canola oil
  ● 1 large onion
  ● 1 tbsp brown sugar
  ● 1-2 large fresh (red) apples, washed, cored, thinly sliced
  ● 1/4 cup German or micro-brewed beer
  ● 4 cups sauerkraut (not canned)
  ● 2 tsp caraway seeds
  ● 6 freshly made German sausages, i.e. brats, knocks, or weiswurst
  ● course ground mustard

Directions:
1. Prepare grill to high heat or heat oven to 350. Oil rack and grill sausages, or cook in pan, 20-30 minutes, or until done, turning to cook evenly. Do not pierce sausages while cooking as that will cause them to lose their savory juices and become dry.

2. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan heat oil over medium-low.  Add onions to pan and saute with brown sugar and pinch of Kosher salt for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Raise heat to high, then deglaze pan with 1/4 cup beer.  Stir, let reduce a minute, then add sliced apples to the onion mixture. Simmer an additional 10 minutes. Stir in rinsed sauerkraut and caraway seeds and cook until heated.

4. Serve sausages over applekraut, passing mustard.

And just a side note, or tip: if you have trouble when trying to evenly and thinly slice an onion, fancy cooking catalogs, like Williams-Sonoma or Pampered Chef, sell fancy tools that will help you hold the onion in place while you are slicing.  Those tools always reminded me of fancy forks, so that's what I use.  I first trim the ends off the onion, then peel it, cut in half lengthwise and remove centers, then I stab one half right in its middle with a fork and use the fork to hold it in place while I make even, thin slices moving inwards from each outside edge.  Works like a charm (bad picture, though. That doesn't really look like a thin slice, does it).