I asked friends on Facebook for recommendations for a dutch oven and boy did they deliver. I can read all I want to online—and I did—but I really value the opinions of my friends and I’m more than glad to hear what works for them in their own homes. When it comes to dutch ovens, everything was recommended! Ovens from Aldi and Sam’s Club totally work. Ones from Target have been popular in the past, and of course there were the big names like Lodge and Le Creuset.
On Monday, after doing my research online and visiting one store in town, I left home determined to buy a Lodge. Three stores and four hours later found me returning home with a Le Creuset. I knew I could return it easily if I changed my mind, but instead I washed it right away and promptly cooked the following recipe with it. I am thrilled to bits and am excited to cook everything possible in it. Her. In her. I think she needs a name. Maybe Koselig the Dutch-Norwegian-French Oven. This pot feels like a piece of art!
I will post all recipes both here and on the community dinner blog that Renae and I have been using for years called Needs More Butter. This Oktoberfest Stoup—hey, I didn’t make up the name—can easily be cooked up in your stockpot, but why do such a thing when you can make it in your new dutch oven? The onion and cabbage cooked up like a dream on the stovetop and this stew/soup, combined with a loaf of homemade rye bread from friends, was the perfect thing to warm our bellies last Monday night.
Oktoberfest Stoup
2 TB vegetable oil
2 TB butter, cut into pats
3 knockwursts, diced into 1-inch cubes
3 bratwursts, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 lb red cabbage, quartered and shredded
1 t caraway seeds
salt & pepper
1 12oz bottle dark beer
1 qt veal or chicken stock
2 C tomato sauce
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
3 TB finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 Red or Golden Delicious apples, peeled and diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
Heat a big soup pot over med-high heat. Add 1 TB of vegetable oil and half the butter. When the butter melts into the oil, add the cubed worsts and brown them on all sides, 5 minutes. Remove the browned sausages and add the remaining tablespoon each of oil and butter. When the butter melts into the oil, add the onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and caraway, season with salt and pepper, and stir.
Cook the cabbage for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the beer and cook down 1 minute. Add the stock, tomato sauce, Worcestershire, and bay leaf and stir to combine. Add the wurst back to the pot. Cover the pot and bring the stoup up to a boil, 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes longer, until the cabbage is tender.
Remove the bay leaf. Combine the parsley, apple, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Ladle the stoup into shallow bowls and top with generous spoonfuls of the flavored apples to stir into the stoup as you eat it.
**Chef’s notes: I’ve never messed with the parsley/apple mixture though it sounds delicious. Also, I used bratwurst this week and actually prefer a sweeter sausage (like a chicken/apple one) instead. Also, it typically takes longer than 10 minutes for the cabbage to get tender.
**Family approval: I have set a very low bar for home-cooking which has resulted in my family heaping praise upon me for making scrambled eggs, not even kidding. That being said, our 11 year old daughter ate an entire bowl of the cabbage soup without blinking an eye. Awesome.
