Pasta & Sauerkraut - why not?

Pasta & Sauerkraut - why not?

February 21st, 2020 | main dishes

The sauerkraut classic from Max and Moritz – who doesn’t know it? My recipe for sauerkraut rolls, however, doesn’t have much to do with the hearty, heavy and “typically German” side dish of knuckle and meat loaf. Homemade pasta dough wraps the vitamin-packed sauerkraut – and if you leave out the bacon, it’ll even be vegetarian!

Sauerkraut always evokes memories of my grandmother from the Odenwald in the south of Hesse. She always had a large, gray clay pot in her cellars in which she stored cabbage as sauerkraut, a supply for the whole winter. We loved this sauerkraut! It was served with salted ribs, pork sausage or meat loaf. It tasted much, much better than the canned cabbage.

For years I have also filled a large clay pot with cabbage for lactic acid fermentation. Somehow I stopped doing this. For this autumn I have just noted it on the calendar. Who knows, maybe I can do it again. I will report…

My grandmother would hardly have combined pasta with sauerkraut. The Odenwald cuisine was hearty and simple. What would she have said about the gratinated sauerkraut rolls?

Gratinated Sauerkraut rolls

(makes 4 servings – preheat the oven to 200° C)

200 g streaky bacon, diced

2 TS butter

sautée the bacon over medium heat until translucent

100 g onions, chopped

add, sautée until translucent

500 g sauerkraut, drained

1 clove

1 bay leaf

150 ml meat broth

1 tsp caraway seeds

add, simmer for about 20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated, let cool down, discard clove and bay leaf

500 g common wheat semolina

5 eggs (room temperature)

use your hands to make a smooth dough and put it through the pasta machine or roll out the dough in small portions in a rectangular shape

top the dough sheets with the sauerkraut mixture, roll the dough in from the broad side, cut it into rolls approx. 5 cm wide with a sharp knife and place it upright in a greased baking dish

850 ml meat broth

pour the meat broth over the pasta-sauerkraut-rolls, they should be covered by the broth about two thirds (add a little broth or water if necessary)

close the baking dish tightly with a lid or aluminium foil, cook at 200° C for about 20 minutes, then finish cooking for 15 minutes without a lid