Early Oktoberfest

As much I as ADORE fall, there is one thing that I can't stand about it, and that's the beginning of football season. On Sundays, my roommate commandeers the television to watch her beloved Patriots, and I usually scurry off to the kitchen to catch up on my favorite Sirius Radio shows from the previous week and cook something more elaborate than usual for our Sunday supper.

Last night, I made this interesting casserole that might be more fitting for Oktoberfest than early September, so file this one away for a few weeks. I particularly liked this dish because it made use of some potatoes that were starting to get eyes on them, a half a jar of leftover sauerkraut that was banging about the fridge, and a piece of good Emmenthal cheese that needed to be used up before it spoiled, and some polska kielbasa that I found in the back of the freezer. (Can you tell I'm Frugie McFrugal?)

Oktoberfest Bake

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
6 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (peeled if you prefer)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 lb. polska kielbasa, cut in half lengthwise and sliced*
2 cups Emmenthal (or Swiss) cheese, shredded or thinly sliced
1/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half

In a large skillet, melt the butter and olive oil together. Add the sliced onions and stir to coat. Cook on low until deep golden brown, stirring occasionally (30-45 minutes). Set aside to cool.

Coat a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray. Layer in half of the sliced potatoes, overlapping them. Sprinkle with half of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Then half the sauerkraut, half the sausage slices, half of the reserved onions, and top with half the cheese. Repeat this process to form the second layer of the casserole. Before you get to the final layer of cheese, pour the milk evenly over the top of everything. Top with cheese, cover loosely with foil, and bake for two hours at 300 degrees.

 

*Note: When I make this again in the future, I might brown the pieces of sausage first before building the casserole.

Post-Operative Pub Fare

The carpal tunnel release surgery went so swimmingly on my right hand back in January, that I was eager to go ahead and do the left one, too. Of course, I had almost a month over winter break to heal up last time, and I don't have any substantive time off until the end of July. I just started teaching summer school this week, but since it's my non-dominant hand, I decided to just go for it. I cancelled my afternoon class today, had the procedure in the morning, napped during the afternoon, and I am already cooking and blogging by evening! I don't return to work until Monday, so I should be able to step down the narcotics by then. ;-)

I am pretty sure that my hospital discharge instructions expressly forbade me to operate a stove for a full 24 hours until the anesthesia wears off, but I am a rebel who laughs in the face of such overly-cautious admonitions. For our dinner tonight, I attempted to recreate something that I had at an Irish pub called Swifty's in Utica when I was in town for a conference last week.

They were like those southwestern egg rolls that everyone loves at Chili's but with a Germanic twist. If you love a Reuben sandwich--with its tantalizing combination of corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, and Russian dressing--you will LOVE these! And they are easy enough for someone fresh out of surgery and still partially anesthetized to throw together. (Tee hee.)

Crispy Reuben Rolls

Mix together two cups of chopped corned beef (slices from the deli), two cups of chopped swiss cheese, and two cups of sauerkraut that has been squeezed dry, plus a half teaspoon each granulated garlic, ground celery, and black pepper.

Place about two tablespoons of the filling in the lower third of each egg roll wrapper (turned diagonally).  Fold the bottom corner up and over the filling, seal the edges with a little water, fold over the ends, and roll it up, again sealing the top corner with a little water.

Fry the rolls in 350 degree vegetable oil in batches of four or five, seam side down at first, for a couple of minutes per side until golden brown. Keep them warm on a rack placed over a cookie sheet in a warm oven until all the rolls have been cooked. Serve them with Russian or Thousand Island dressing on the side as a dipper.

This makes 14 rolls.