Savory Sauerkraut Bread Pudding

OK, I know that Sauerkraut is a winter dish and we’re in the middle of a June mini-heat wave in Southern Oregon. But sometimes you get a hankering for a specific taste delight...and for me right now, that’s a good batch of Sauerkraut. However, I have not abandoned my pledge to being lazy and taking advantage of newly available food products...so when I saw Fresh, Organic Sauerkraut in a jar just calling to me from the refrigerated grocery section in the Roseburg Costco, I had to buy it. My standard was always available in a small plastic bag elsewhere, but hey I wanted show my appreciation for the free food samples at Costco (that included one with the Organic, Fresh Sauerkraut). In addition, I also wished the PR folks to be rewarded for their clever packaging and labeling. (And my neighbor’s fabulous home made Sauerkraut was no longer in my pantry.)

I had just finished baking 23 loaves of bread in the WFO and the temperature was down to about 450°F (~232°C), so I figured I might as well fix myself a batch of Sauerkraut with the residual heat.

I cut some chicken sausage and chorizo into nice chunks and added a little olive oil to get them cooking in my Dutch oven. I set the pot in the WFO and browned the meat chunks.

Next I removed the browned meat and set it aside. Into the heated pot went a medium, sweet Maya onion that had been rough chopped, added a splash of olive oil and set them (uncovered) in the oven to get some color. When I started to get some nice carmelization on the onions, I added a batch of small, halved red and gold potatoes, stirred with the onions, and then covered the pot.

After about 30 minutes the potatoes were getting soft, so I returned the cooked meat to the pot with the content of my Sauerkraut jug (I decided since the container was plastic, not glass, jug seemed to be the correct terminology to use here). A good stir to mix things up and then I covered the pot, put it back in the oven and waited about 30 minutes to heat through and blend flavors. While the pot was working on my dinner, I brought out a steel pan and some cubed, home made bread. A little olive oil and a brief crisping of the bread cubes in the pan created some pretty tasty croutons. I intended to use the croutons to absorb some of the extra liquid in the bottom of the Dutch oven and provide a bit of crunch on top of the Sauerkraut.

When the Sauerkraut was hot, I stirred half of my croutons into the pot and put the other half on top. I left the cover off and returned the Dutch oven to the WFO for another flavor meld. Since my dinner was smelling great, but looking rather drab, I decided to roast/pan sear a batch of sugar snap pea pods as a color spot (many thanks to my gardening, beer and bread baking neighbor, Diane). Into my already hot, still oiled, carbon steel pan...which still retained even a bit of bread crumb crispies. In went the pea pods and in only a few minutes with a couple of tosses, they were bright green and looking fabulous.

I served myself up a nice plate full, poured a cold adult beverage, and thoroughly enjoyed my “out of season” dinner. The croutons had absorbed all of the liquid in the bottom of the Dutch oven, so with the crisp croutons on top, my creation actually was more of a bread pudding than the normally wet batch of Sauerkraut that I was used to...but it was excellent and I will have several more Savory Sauerkraut Bread Pudding dinners ready to be reheated this week...YUM!

Life is Good! (And tasty...!)