Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Dutch Oven Cabbage and Sausage

I don’t often use cabbage, but a couple of heads were given to us, and I had to think for a bit to figure out what to do with them.  A slaw, of course, is an obvious idea, but that’s uncooked.  Finally, I picked up some smoked sausage and went with this!

This dish is a comfort food from my childhood.  My mom used to make it in a slow cooker.  I don’t know the exact recipe she used, but I found a few that were close enough and blended them together.

12” Dutch oven

20+ coals underneath, to brown and saute
10-12 below, 16-18 above for the final cooking.



1-2 lbs smoked sausage or kielbasa
1 tablespoon butter
2 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, cored, seeded, and minced
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tsp salt

1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 apple, cored and sliced thin
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
Salt


I started by getting the coals hot, then heating up the Dutch oven over them. I wanted it pretty hot, so I let it sit for a bit. I sliced the sausage “on the bias” (at an angle) so there’d be more surface area to brown, and tossed them in.  They started sizzling immediately, letting me know that the oven was hot enough. I tossed them around and let them get nice and seared.

Then, I put in the butter and let it melt. While the sausage was sauteing, I had chopped and minced the other veggie ingredients. I tossed them in and stirred them to get them cooking.  I let them sweat with the salt and pepper.

While that was cooking, in between stirrings, I prepped the cabbage.  I took the Dutch oven off the coals and put in all the ingredients of the second set. I like it very acidic, so I didn’t scrimp on the lemon juice or the vinegar.  I rearranged the coals, and put the lid on, with coals on top. From there, it was a simple process to cook the cabbage down, stirring occasionally. It took about 25 minutes to a half hour, and I did replenish my coals (partly from time, and because it was cold and breezy out).

It’s easy to serve, too, just dish it out onto a plate or a bowl.  In the end it was delicious! I liked the tangy tones of the lemons with the edgy sweet tones of the cabbage and the apple. The savory sausage is a nice touch, too.


Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

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