Sausage and Cabbage Casserole

Back in January, this recipe popped into my inbox and caught my eye. I'll admit, I'm subscribed to so many recipe sites and blogs that I tend to skip over the emails and rarely follow them to their source. However, I'm so glad I did with this one! Super easy, fairly simple and completely satisfying. 

Let's be honest here: when has Deb from Smitten Kitchen ever led us astray? Never. So, it's no surprise that this was such a lovely dinner! I went with herb sausages but I think you can use whatever you have on hand. This recipe seems pretty adaptable and since it only has five ingredients (three of which you definitely already have - butter, salt and pepper) it's a great option for a weekday evening as long as you get home at a reasonable time. Since the cooking time is about 2 hours, you might be better off leaving this for a relaxed weekend night.  

Despite my family's Irish roots, I really didn't eat much cabbage growing up. As a result, I never add it to my shopping list or drop it in my basket on a whim. However, with this recipe, I'll definitely be doing that more often. In fact, the next time I make it, I think I'll double the recipe so that there are plenty of leftovers for lunch. With these quantities, we pretty much demolished it in one evening. What can I say? We're unapologetically greedy. 

In fact, we inhaled it so quickly that I completely forgot to get a finished photo! Oh well. I have no regrets. I think the simplicity of this dish is what makes it such a winner - really clean flavors with just the right amount of saltiness balanced by the cabbage that takes on all the lovely sausage flavor. I'd like to try this with maybe a caramelized onion sausage to see if that offers any additional benefits.  I also liked how economical this dinner was since sausages are usually available for under 5 pounds and the cabbage was only about 1 pound so with the bread that we had along side, the whole thing comes in well under 10 pounds. For two people, that's a pretty decent grocery bill. If you were having this along with more robust side dishes (such as baked sweet potatoes and salad), this could easily stretch to four people. 

Recipe via Smitten Kitchen

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 2 hours 

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

1 Savoy cabbage (approximately 2 lbs or 900g), coarsely shredded 

1 package of sausages (1 lb / 450g), casings removed 

2 tbsp salted butter

Salt

Pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 300F / 150C.

Over high heat, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shredded cabbage and boil for three minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, then set aside.

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and add a third of the cabbage. Cover with half of the sausage meat, dotting the pieces around the dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dot with butter. Repeat with another third of the cabbage and the rest of the sausage, adding more butter and seasoning. Finally, top with the remaining cabbage. Dot the top with butter and cover the dish tightly with parchment paper. Finally, add a layer of aluminum foil to the top and place in the oven.

Bake for 2 to 2 and half hours, removing the foil and parchment paper for the final 30 minutes or until the cabbage is soft and the sausage is fully cooked. Enjoy!