Bavarian Sausage Supper

November starts. The clocks fell back Sunday. The kids think this is delightful for one day and then they are tired by 4 PM and asking for dinner at 4:30 and confused that bedtime is the same.

Election week somewhere — I am not paying attention. I voted. I went home. I made dinner. The civic duty was done before lunch.

Clinic: routine. A new pregnancy intake on Monday — first baby, twenty-six weeks, second-trimester glow. I love the visit where the woman is happy. I send her to the OB I trust and I also tell her she is welcome to come back any time she wants because community health is about being known, not just billed. She thanked me. She was crying a little. I was a little, too.

Group Tuesday. Bernadette is going to Florida for a week — her granddaughter's bat mitzvah. We will run group with the room moderator we have used before. The room cheered for the granddaughter. Bernadette pretended to wave us off. She is going to send us a postcard. She always sends postcards. We have a wall.

Wednesday Kettle. Ten quarts. Hold for now. The cooking is going to scale up at the parish in January, which is two months away, which is also tomorrow if I am not paying attention.

Liam had a small fight with a kid at school Tuesday. Not physical. The kid said something about Liam's dad being dead. Liam came home and told me at the kitchen counter while I was prepping dinner. He said he did not say anything back. He said he just walked away. He said is that okay. I said yes that is okay. I said you do not owe that kid your father. He said okay. He went up to do homework. I held it together. I called Meghan at eleven. I cried into the phone for ten minutes. She listened. She said Katie. I said I know. We hung up.

Saturday pancakes. Burned the first. Liam ate five. He ate hard this week. Children eat their feelings sometimes. Children also need to eat. Both can be true.

Sunday dinner at Ma's. Pot roast. Standard. Healing.

Food of the week: Ma's pot roast. The healing kind.

Ma’s pot roast is hers and I will not attempt to recreate it here — some recipes belong to the person who makes them, and that one belongs to her kitchen on a Sunday. What I can offer is the spirit of it: something hot, something in one pot, something that smells like someone meant it. This Bavarian Sausage Supper is what I reach for when I need that same gravitational pull toward the table, the kind of meal that asks Liam to sit down and just eat without either of us having to say anything hard.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs kielbasa or smoked sausage, sliced into 1-inch rounds
1 lb baby potatoes, halved
2 cups sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup beer (lager or pilsner) or additional broth
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Brown the sausage. Heat olive oil or butter in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage slices in a single layer and cook 3—4 minutes per side until browned. Remove sausage and set aside.
Soften the onion. In the same pan, reduce heat to medium and add sliced onion. Cook 5—6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
Build the base. Stir in the mustard, caraway seeds, and smoked paprika. Pour in the broth and beer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
Add potatoes. Nestle the halved baby potatoes into the liquid. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, or until potatoes are just tender when pierced with a fork.
Add sauerkraut and sausage. Return the browned sausage to the pan and stir in the sauerkraut. Season with black pepper. Cover and cook an additional 10 minutes, until everything is heated through and the flavors have melded.
Serve. Ladle into shallow bowls or serve directly from the pan. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Have good bread nearby.

Nutrition (per serving)

Bavarian Sausage Supper — The Sunday Dinner That Holds You Together