Tasty Bratwurst, and Pasta with Bite

My German ancestors would either be very proud of me or hang their heads in shame. The standard accompaniment to bratwurst is a good hot potato salad and some sauerkraut. Although I adore both of those things, I didn't really have all the necessary ingredients for either one. No cabbage, no bacon, not a lot of potato action... truly a shame. But I really, really wanted bratwurst. So I improvised! Sauerkraut and hot German potato salad together bring three important things to the meal: sour, sweet, and starch. I got the sour and starch from a pasta dish I came up with, and the sweetness came from a lovely topping for the sausage. All in all, it turned out to be a pretty great meal.

Click it. It'll be outrageously satisfying.

I'm not even going to write out a formal recipe for the bratwurst. I didn't have a grill, so I decided to lay the sausage links down on the bottom of a saucepan just big enough to contain them. Pour about half a bottle of beer in there - enough that the liquid level came about halfway up the sausage. Then, just cover and simmer. It's an extremely forgiving style of cooking. I had mine on the stove for about 50 minutes, which was certainly longer than necessary. They came out just fine.

Ideally, I would have chosen a medium bodied beer to cook the sausage in - something in maybe a bock or Oktoberfest style. Unfortunately, I only had a single beer in my fridge. Sam Adams Wee Heavy, though a truly phenomenal brew, isn't quite meant for this type of work. It's outrageously thick, malty and smooth, so I used both beer and a little bit of water as my cooking liquid. The good news about diluting: I had extra beer left over to actually drink with my meal.

Extremely important for this meal was the topping I made for the sausage. I wanted to base it around apple. Last time I had a hot German potato salad I tasted a good amount of apple in it, which I absolutely loved. The recipe:

Sausage Topping Ingredients:

  - 1 apple, cut into thin slices/strips or small cubes

  - 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/8" strips

  - 1/2 medium onion, chopped

  - 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

  - Salt to taste

Sausage Topping Instructions:

1. Begin sauteing the onions over medium heat.
2. Just as the onions start to caramelize (about five minutes?), add the apple and the green bell pepper.
3. Cook for about five minutes, then salt the veggies to taste. I used about 1/4 tsp.
4. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook for 30 minutes or until apple starts to soften. Every 5 minutes or so,  uncover and stir it all around to avoid anything getting burnt.

This topping is pretty good eaten by itself, but really shines when eaten with the meat. The combination really brings out the best in both. You get this sweet, savory, firm sensation that's really tremendous. The amounts listed above made enough for 4-6 sausages. You can see in the image above that I used thin slices of apple - though delicious, these were a bit difficult to maneuver and took longer to cook than I would have liked. Strips or cubes might cook more easily, but it's tougher to get skin on each piece in that case. I'm decidedly pro-skin - I think it adds a nice bit of taste and texture. Putting herbs or spices in this dish could be interesting, but I was going for a more hearty old-world feel. If you'd like to jazz it up, I have a good feeling about marjoram complementing the meat nicely. Lastly, if you have a piece of cookware with higher walls than a regular frying pan, cook this dish in that. My regular 10" frying pan worked, but it would have been way easier to manipulate the food in my 12" stir-fry pan.

The pasta is an interesting dish that I invented about a year ago. It's a very situational dish, so I don't make it often:

Pasta with Bite Ingredients:

  - 1/2 lb short pasta. Pretty much anything here will work, though I'd recommend farfalle or ruote.

  - 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.

  - 1 tsp butter (optional)

  - olive oil

  - 3/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs

Pasta with Bite Instructions:

1. Boil the pasta in salted water, and drain once it feels al dente.
2. Add the butter to the pasta and about a tablespoon of olive oil. Stir it all together nicely. Add oil slowly to the pasta until it seems well lubricated and the pasta doesn't stick to itself.
3. Add the vinegar and stir.
4. Add the bread crumbs and stir.

All in all, this is a very simple recipe. It can be somewhat difficult to get the proportions right, especially regarding the vinegar. 1 tablespoon should be enough that you can taste the acidity but it's not offensive. Feel free to add more should you feel so bold. I warn you that it's pretty easy to overdo it with the vinegar, but if you take it slow it should work out. I've done this with apple cider and red wine vinegar in the past, and both are pretty good. I think I overall prefer the apple cider vinegar. Don't get lazy and add the bread crumbs at the beginning - they'll get soggy and clump up, so they won't stick to the pasta as well. 

You end up with a surprisingly tangy and somewhat addictive side dish. It's quite good, and really works with meals that welcome acidity. Since I didn't have and couldn't make sauerkraut, this seemed like a fantastic dish to make in its stead. I think it worked out nicely.

Overall, this was a pretty balanced mean - at least regarding flavor. It had sweet, sour, salty, starchy, and savory tucked into a bunch of different areas. It unfortunately isn't really balanced at all healthwise. The sausage topping isn't bad for you, and makes a decent snack by itself, but that sausage certainly isn't the most low-fat meat imaginable. The pasta dish is carbohydrate city as well. Although it's a really cool alternative to sauerkraut, the kraut will definitely be a lower calorie option.

I'd make this again, hands-down. Especially the beer-laden bratwurst with the lovely apple/pepper/onion topping. If I'm feeling really adventurous, I may try to make a jam or jelly from that combination - I think it would work wonders at a barbecue.

Sausage and Topping Final Verdict:

Taste: 4.5/5

Ease: 3/5

Health: 3/5

Pasta with Bite Final Verdict:

Taste: 3.5/5

Ease: 3.5/5 (extremely simple, but balance can be tough)

Health: 2/5