Apple Sauerkraut Casserole (Chatelaine Cookbook, ca 1964?)

I'm very late in posting this. The recipe was cooked on Sunday and has been entirely eaten as I type this. It was cooked last week, so let's call this a bad case of life but a fulfillment of my goal, shall we? 

After last week's experimental recipes, I promised my husband something a little more normal this week. I even gave him the choice of a couple of recipes that sounded relatively edible without too much tweaking, and he chose this one. Actually, he wanted to choose both so the second one will be appearing on the weekend.

This is from a fairly battered and well used copy of The Chatelaine Cookbook. There is no copyright page, it's fallen out along the way. Google tells me that Elaine Collett, the woman who wrote the introduction to this cookbook, was Food Editor at Chatelaine between 1956 and 1975. As there is an inscription in the front dated 1964, I'm going to assume this was an edition from the early 60s. 1964 is as good a date as any without having the time to do an in depth search.

This cookbook has its scary recipes, as most cookbooks from this era do. I stayed well away from the aspics and mousse, and chose this recipe for the familiar ingredients being combined in a way that sounded delicious. I also chose it for its simplicity; the bad case of life being particularly bad this week I didn't want anything too fussy.

I'm lucky I live in an area where finding fresh sauerkraut is not a huge challenge, thereby bypassing the tinny flavour that sauerkraut in a can has. I found some weisswurst (white sausage) on sale at the local German deli, and decided to go with that. I used sweet apples that I had on hand that needed using up, and an unoaked chardonnay.

End result was a mild tasting, slightly sweet casserole. It smelled incredible while cooking, and was absolutely delicious. You could really change this up with different sausage and apples, giving it some variety. 

Apple Sauerkraut Casserole

The Chatelaine Cookbook, approx. 1964.

1.5 to 2 lbs smoked OR Polish sausage

4 tart apples peeled and cut into eights

1 (20-oz) can sauerkraut

1/2 to 2/3 cup dry white wine OR dry Vermouth

2 tsp sugar

Cut the sausage into 6 to 8 pieces and brown slowly on all sides in a lightly greased frying pan. Arrange in a 1 1/2 quart oblong baking dish  or casserole. Drain the sauerkraut and rinse in water. Drain again and spread over the apples. Mix wine and sugar together and pour over the top. Cover and bake at 350F for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Serve with baked or scalloped potatoes. Makes 6 servings.