Sauerkraut casserole with potatoes and apples
Sauerkraut is one of those things: if it's well made, I could eat it. And then it's supposed to be so healthy too...! Nevertheless, it's rare that I get a spontaneous craving for sauerkraut... But since my sister Anaïs started raving about our Basque-Alsatian sauerkraut a while ago, I've just been waiting to finally try it myself .
It's a good thing that I recently came across Karin Iden's recipe for a sauerkraut casserole with potatoes and apples while browsing through various kitchen blogs (many thanks to Valentina's cookbook!). The original recipe is vegetarian and is meant to be prepared with fresh sauerkraut, but since I like to adapt recipes to suit my taste and mood, today we're making the casserole à la Causse, i.e. with juicy duck confit and ready-made sauerkraut from the can.
Ingredients for 4 servings
- 4 medium-sized potatoes, mostly waxy
- 1 tsp rapeseed oil
- 2 crumbly apples
- 1 can of sauerkraut
- 1 jar of canard confit
- some salt and freshly ground pepper or piment d'Espelette
- Nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1 egg
- some crème épaisse
- 2 tbsp medium hot mustard
If you like, you can also add onions and garlic. I'm not a big fan of them, so I leave them out.
preparation
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C (gas mark 3, fan oven 180 °C). Peel and wash the potatoes and cut into slices. Mix a tablespoon of crème épaisse into 200 ml of water and bring the potato slices to the boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes until almost done, then remove from the heat, drain and allow the steam to evaporate.
- Wash the apples, quarter them, remove the core and cut the quarters into slices. Grease a fireproof dish with a little rapeseed oil. Distribute the sauerkraut, potato and apple slices evenly in the dish. Season with nutmeg from time to time.
- Mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of crème épaisse, a little water and the mustard. Season with salt and pepper (carefully!) and pour over the ingredients.
- Bake in the preheated oven on the second rack from the bottom for 40 minutes.
- Garnish with chives, serve hot and pour the wine. Bon appétit!
The result is a rich, hearty casserole that will make you happy and will make you lick your fingers. The apples add a lovely sweet freshness that loosens the whole thing up and prevents it from becoming too heavy.
If you notice that the apples and potatoes are not quite cooked yet, but the top crust is already starting to turn dark, place some aluminum foil over the casserole for the rest of the time in the oven. This way, nothing can burn!
Our wine recommendation: the Invincible Number One DOC Douro Tinto 2021
The original recipe comes from Karin Iden's cookbook "The new cookbook through the year: 365 seasonal recipes"