Sauerkraut Lasagne

 

Makes 8 servings

Sauerkraut Lasagne
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons flour
  • 2½ cups milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 dashes nutmeg
  • 2 Tablespoons seedy mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sharp mustard
  • 1 medium onion (8oz)
  • 1 lb smoked pork (see notes)
  • 11 oz sauerkraut (see notes)
  • 8 oz Alpine cheeses, grated (see notes)
  • 4 stalks parsley
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 Tablespoon paprika (smoked or sweet)
  • ½ teaspoon dried tarragon
  • 14 oz low sodium chicken broth
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • butter for greasing the pan
  • 9 - 12 lasagne noodles (depends on noodle length and pan size)

Special equipment

a 13 x 9 inch pan

Method

Start with the béchamel: melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add flour and stir until the butter has absorbed all the flour. Slowly stir in half of the milk about ½ cup at a time to precent clumping. When thoroughly mixed, add the rest of the milk, the bay, salt, and pepper. Keep stirring occasionally until thickened. Remove from heat, and add mustards, still sturring occcasionally even while it cools.

While the sauce is cooking, prepare the filling: slice onion very finely. Cut any chunky pork into ½ inch cubes; remove larger hunks of fat from bacon, and cut into maybe ¼ inch chunks. Grate cheese finely. Drain sauerkraut; do not squeeze dry; you want some moisture in it. Chop parsley medium fine.

Now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 350°.

Pour the olive oil into a large frying pan over medium high heat. Brown the pork bits, stirring as needed to get all sides. Remove. In the bacon fat still in the pan, brown the onions until golden, stirring against the sides of the pan to absorb the fond. Add sauerkraut and heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste, stirring to distribute throughout the grated vegies as best you can. Add paprika, tarragon, parsley. Stir, and add broth, then pork. Season to taste. Remove from heat to cool.

Grease the bottom of your baking pan with butter. Place one layer of noodle at the bottom of the pan. Now half the sauerkraut mix, ⅓ the cheese, and ⅓ the béchamel. Top with a layer of noodles and repeat. Top with another layer of noodles, the rest of the béchamel, and the rest of the grated cheese. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is golden. Cool slightly before serving,

Notes

Recipe is closely based on a recipe from the January 2021 issue of Essen und Trinken.

We usually use a smoked pork chop supplemented with as much trimmed bacon ends as needed to make a full pound. We don’t recommend using entirely bacon; that’d be overwhelming. You might try some fresh or smoked sausage.↩

Please none of that shredded plastic you get in a bag from the supermarket. Find a farmers market that sells real, tasty sauerkraut. Check out the pickle stand.↩

Emmentaler, Gruyere, ooo, some Jarlsburg, maybe even some Fontina.↩

Suggestions

This can easily be made gluten free by subbing a prepackaged GF flour in the Béchamel and GF noodles in the layering.