February 9, 2015 Dinner New Recipes Bratwurst Boiled in Guinness and then grilled with steamed asparagus and Braised Sweet and Sour red cabbage and boiled potatoes

February 9, 2015 Dinner New Recipes    Bratwurst Boiled in Guinness and then grilled with steamed asparagus and Braised Sweet and Sour red cabbage and boiled potatoes

The Grilled Brats:

This is a very German dinner.  I took the two brats I bought at Sprouts on Saturday from the freezer at about 3:00 so they were still slightly frozen at 6:30 when we began cooking. Suzette came home around 6:00 with four red potatoes and a head of red cabbage.  She then poured a can of Guinness (although any beer will do) into a casserole and put the brats into the beer to simmer and cook.  When the brats had cooked to the point that their casings had split open, Suzette took the brats on the propane grill to broil for another 20 minutes to give them a grilled texture and brown them.

The Braised Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Potatoes:

While Suzette was boiling the brats, I chopped up about 3 Tbsps. of onion, four cloves of garlic and ½ head of red cabbage and put it in a large skillet with about 1 1/2 Tbsp. of olive oil and about ½ Tbsp. of ground cumin and a dash of salt and began simmering it.  Suzette later added more salt and pepper.  After about twenty minutes the cabbage began to soften.  We then made a mixture of ¼ cup /of apple cider vinegar and 4 tsps. sugar and added the vinegar and sugar mixture to the cabbage and potato mixture and let that mixture sauté for another twenty minutes until the Brats were finished grilling.

After chopping the ingredients for the sautéed cabbage I diced four red potatoes into ½ inch cubes and boiled them with a dash of salt until tender.  After the first 20 minutes of braising the cabbage, Suzette put about 1 cup of the potatoes into the approximately 2 cups of red cabbage mixture in the skillet to braise together.

After cubing the potatoes, I snapped the ends off 12 large stalks of asparagus (Costco $5.99 for 2.25 lb.) and put them into the steamer filled with water to just under the mesh bottom of the steaming rack.  When the meal was about 8 minutes from being ready I started the heat under the asparagus and steamed them for 8 minutes and then lifted the rack out of the steaming vessel to stop the process.  This produced relatively tender but still slightly crisp asparagus.  I then put the steamed asparagus into the freezer bag that had held the PPI asparagus that we marinated in Quinta de Tedo olive oil from Portugal beginning on Saturday evening and grilled for Sunday night’s dinner and sealed the bag.  The steamed asparagus picked up some of the olive oil and ejected some of their moisture, which gave them a more pleasing texture and flavor.

When the brats finally firmed up from their grilling Suzette brought them in and we plated up our plates with the braised red cabbage, the steamed asparagus, and one brat each.

I put Long’s Horseradish from Pennsylvania, Dijon mustard and Suzette fetched the basil pesto mayonnaise spread she made for tapas on Saturday night and we each mixed those three ingredients together to make a dipping sauce for the brats.  I fetched New Belgium Amber Ales from the garage and we had a wonderful German meal while we watched the Antiques Roadshow from Austin, Texas and Suzette's ad for the Center for Ageless Living on TV.

Bon Appétit