Oktoberfest Lager Stew

Everyone is German in October like everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day - LOL!  And if you go into the grocery store these days, everywhere you look you see sauerkraut, German beer and all sorts of brats. 

Since both my husband and I have German ancestors, this is a great month for us!  I found this recipe on Pinterest on the Cozy Apron website.  It sounded interesting and, as luck would have it, I had almost all of the ingredients!  So this was meant to be!!

It is a very easy recipe to make up - the hardest part is doing all the chopping of the vegetables and sausage.

Oktoberfest Lager Stew

Ingredients

1 T Olive Oil
1 14 ounce package smoked beef sausage or polish kielbasa sausage (your choice) cut into bite size pieces
1 large onion, sliced into thin semi-circle slices
1/2 head small cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 t black pepper
1/4 t ground caraway seeds (I didn't have that, so I omitted it)
pinch of salt
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup German-style lager beer (Oktoberfest variety) - I let my husband buy that - he is the "beer expert"!
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed into bite sized pieces
2 1/2 cups hot chicken stock
1 1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T parsley, chopped (I didn't have that either, so I omitted that)

Directions:

Using a stock pot, heat the olive oil.

Add the sliced smoked sausage and sauté until brown - roughly 4 to 5 minutes.  Be careful not to let them burn!
Add the onions and sauté for another 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the sliced cabbage and cook until the cabbage begins to soften.

Once the cabbage has softened, add the pepper, ground caraway seeds, salt and garlic.
Add the one cup of beer.  Allow the beer to slightly reduce for about 5 minutes or more.
Add the cubed potatoes and the hot chicken stock.

Bring the stew to a boil, place a lid slightly askew to allow a little bit of steam to escape, and reduce the heat to let it simmer for 40 minutes.
After 40 minutes, turn off the heat, add the apple cider vinegar and parsley.

Verdict:

OH MY!!  This was good!  Definitely a keeper recipe.  I think this would be great with rye bread or a hearty roll smothered with butter.  My husband loved it.