Seasonal Ontario Food

Well, yes, it sounds exotic, but it's the usual winter trinity of cabbage, carrots, and onions mixed with noodles and pork products. So not very exotic, really, but extremely tasty. Quick, too, as pasta dishes generally are. Fry up your what-nots, boil your noodles, mix'em together; you are done. Like dinner.

I say it in the recipe but I want to emphasize it some more: watch the salt. I've had bacon, sausage, and sauerkraut that didn't have that much salt in them. On the other hand it is quite common to get versions of all of those that are absolutely loaded with it. The odds are good that you will not need to add any salt, and if you are unfortunate in your buying decisions this could in fact end up too salty. In short, this is a recipe where you need to be mindful of the salt even as you do the shopping. Leftover braised (pulled) pork would make a good substitute for the sausage, and if you cooked it yourself it would hopefully not be too salty.

4 servings
40 minutes prep time


Prepare the Vegetables:
1 medium onion
1 medium carrot
4 cups chopped green or Savoy cabbage
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, optional. 
2 cups sauerkraut OR 2 more cups chopped cabbage

Peel the onion and cut it into slivers. Peel and grate the carrot. Wash, trim, and chop the cabbage - it doesn't have to be too fine. Peel and mince the garlic if you would like it; also keep in mind whether the sausage already has some or not. Drain the sauerkraut.

Put a pot of salted water on to boil to cook the noodles.

Cook the Noodles, Meat, & Vegetables:
125 grams (1/4 pound) bacon
375 grams (13 ounces) pork sausage
1 to 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt, with caution
375 grams (13 ounces) egg noodles

Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces, ditto the sausage. Begin frying the bacon in a large skilletover medium-high heat, and add the sausage once the bacon has rendered a little fat. Cook them together for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until they have changed colour all over and are sizzling well even when stirred.

Start putting the vegetables into the pan by handfuls, starting with the onions, then the carrots and cabbage. Stir well between each addition. Season with the caraway seeds and pepper. You can add some salt but keep in mind that bacon, sausage, and sauerkraut may all be quite high is salt - you should have some idea of their state before you add any more.

Once the vegetables are all in, cook for another 10 minutes or so stirring regularly to ensure everything cooks evenly. Add the sauerkraut towards the end of the cooking time, mixing it in to ensure it gets good and hot, although it doesn't really need to cook as such. This is about the time for garlic to go in as well, if it is to be used. Turn the heat down if it looks like things are getting too far ahead of the noodles.

When the water boils cook the egg noodles according to package instructions. Drain well. Mix into the pan of meat and vegetables until well distributed. Transfer to a serving dish and serve at once.





Last year at this time I made Rye & Potato Bread.