Choucroute Garnie

I have changed my blog name to reflect my one true (food) love, cornichons. I keep a large jar of cornichons and religiously gorge myself on them for a post-work pre-dinner snack. They manage to be tangy, sweet, salty and with the slight tarragon flavor...mmmm...they never get old, there will always be a jar of cornichons (and my loving husband) at home.

I thought a French recipe would be appropriate for my first post under my re-named blog, a French recipe that I have been craving ever since the weather has been sub-zero and since my diet has evolved to include meat.

With the new year, a significant change has been made to my diet -- I am eating meat. How to incorporate meat into my diet, cooking techniques, and flavors are all new to me. After countless years as a vegetarian and 10 years of those being a strict vegan (even working as a vegan baker), I am eating meat. It's not a full on meat every day at every meal change, but rather trying to incorporate meat into my diet about once or maybe twice a week. This recipe is more than meaty.

I am starting with poultry. I have carefully tried a handful of dishes -- pollo alla birra, chicken meatballs, and apricot almond chicken curry.

Choucroute is traditionally made with an array of pork -- hamhock, ribs, smoked sausages-- or occasionally fish. This is my version of choucroute made with a variety of poultry. The recipe I am adapting from uses ribs, ham, kielbasa and sausage. I will try the original recipe once I am ready to eat pork.
Choucroute Garnie

This is largely adapted from Jacques Pepin and serves 4-5.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs sauerkraut (in plastic bags), drained
  
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
  
• 1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces bacon, chopped
  
• 6-7 juniper berries
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp of caraway seeds
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cups Riesling or Pinot Gris
• 2-3 sausages, cut into bite size pieces
  
• 1/2 pound kielbasa, cut into bite size pieces
  
• 4-5 pounds medium potatoes or 10 small potatoes, boiled

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

In a dutch oven, heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, add in the onion, garlic, bacon, and a pinch of salt. Saute until the onions are tender and the bacon begins to brown, about 7 minutes.

Add in the sauerkraut, stock, wine, juniper berries, caraway, and bay leaf. Scrape all of the bits that have browned on the bottom of the pan and bring to a boil. Place the lid on the dutch oven, or cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 1.5 hours.

While the sauerkraut is baking, bring a pot of cold water with potatoes to a boil. Cook until tender and drain.

Add the sausage and kielbasa to the dutch oven and cook until they are fully warm, about 25 minutes.

Add the boiled potatoes and serve with a variety of mustards (such as Vodka Chili Mustard), rye bread, and of course cornichons!

Notes: This is a must try recipe for winter! I cut the original recipe down to serve about 4 people. I used smoked turkey kielbasa, turkey bacon, and chicken sage sausages I found at my local co-op.

Shitake and Cabbage Dumplings

In celebration of Chinese New Year, I made some dumplings. It's been a long time since I have made dumplings from scratch, and they definitely reminded me of how delicious homemade dumplings are. I didn't follow a recipe for this and tried to pay attention to the quantities I used, but just play around. The recipe below made enough for about 25-30 dumplings. These turned out really good!

Ingredients

Dumplings:

• Half a head of cabbage
• 10 - 15 shitake mushrooms
• 3 chopped scallions
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup of water
  
• Wonton or dumpling wrappers
  

Dipping Sauce:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
  
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 1 chopped scallion

How to:

1. Shred the cabbage using the shredding attachment of a food processor.
   
2. Grate the ginger and garlic (see note) and finely dice the scallions and mushrooms.
   
3. Heat one tablespoon of sesame oil in a skillet and add the cabbage, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and scallions. Saute for about 10 minutes, until the cabbage and mushrooms are soft. Set aside.
4. While the filling is cooling, mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together.
   
5. Place 1-2 teaspoons of filling into a wonton wrapper - the amount will depend on the size of wrappers you use. Using your finger, wet half of the wonton edges with water - then fold over to seal.
   
6. Heat the two tablespoons of canola and remaining sesame oil in a skillet. Make sure to use a skillet that has a lid. Add the dumplings (do not cover). Pan fry until golden brown. When the dumplings are brown, add the water and cover the skillet with the lid very quickly. Let steam for about 2 minutes.
   

Note: The key to making good dumplings at home is make sure the filling isn't too wet. You don't want it to cause the wrappers to break. Also, be conservative when you wet the edges of the dumplings. One other tip, using a microplane to finely grate the ginger and garlic is a good way to pack in the flavor.