Our version of Krautfleckerl

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g white cabbage, fresh, cleaned and destemmed
• 250 g pasta, e.g. Fleckerl, Farfalle or short ribbon pasta
• 100 g breakfast bacon, sliced
• 100 g cooked ham, sliced
• 30 g bacon, fat, diced
• 150 ml vegetable broth, clear
• 1 tbsp, heaped caraway seeds, whole
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 tbsp, heaped clarified butter or ghee
• ½ tsp marjoram, dried and shredded
• 1 tbsp, heaped sugar
• Sunflower oil or rapeseed oil
• 2 tbsp, heaped butter
• Sea salt
• Pepper, colored or black, from the mill
• n. B. Chive rolls, fresh, out of season also frozen
• e.g. Emmental cheese, grated
• n. B. fried onions

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest time approx. 5 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

maybe not quite classic – but delicious from Fiefhusen

Remove the outer leaves of the white cabbage head. Then quarter the cabbage and remove the stalk. Ideally, we now have 500g of cleaned cabbage. A little more or less is not a big deal. Cut the cabbage quarter into 1cm wide strips along the long side, then turn 90 degrees and cut again at 1cm intervals. This results in square pieces of cabbage with sides measuring 1 x 1cm. Peel and roughly dice the onions. Clean the garlic and finely dice, do not press. Cut the fatty bacon into large cubes of approximately 5 x 5mm. Cut the bacon into 1cm wide strips. Cut the slices of cooked ham in three parallel cuts and then into 1 x 2cm pieces. In the meantime, cook the selected pasta in plenty of well-salted water according to the package instructions, just a little more than al dente. Then drain and set aside in the pot. If you like, add a little sunflower oil and stir it through. This will prevent it from sticking so much. Set aside. Heat a non-stick pan to 3/4 heat and then melt the clarified butter or ghee in it. Add the bacon to the pan and fry until it is nice and translucent and lightly browned. Then add the chopped onion, chopped garlic, and caraway seeds. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown around the edges and a wonderful aroma begins to rise. Add the cabbage and continue to sauté with the rest of the pan contents for about five minutes, stirring frequently. Now pour in the stock and boil it down, stirring frequently. This takes about five minutes. Next, add the bacon and cooked ham. Continue to sauté, stirring constantly, until the cabbage turns a nice brown and the famous roasted aromas develop. Now add the marjoram and sugar and distribute them evenly over the contents of the pan. Stir thoroughly and add the noodles. Continue to sauté for another 3-5 minutes, until the heat has reduced, stirring frequently. At this point you can decide whether to braise everything for a little longer. Experiment; it’s a matter of personal taste. Now just add the butter and fold in. Once the butter has melted, toss it around one last time, season with sea salt and pepper, and serve on warmed plates. Sprinkle with chives, and the basic version is ready. Serve with grated Emmental cheese and fried onions, if desired. Note: After 20 years of annual winter sports in Austria, Krautfleckerl have become a very special favorite of ours, on vacation and at home. But every restaurant, every hut, and every family has its own special secret recipe. No one will give it away, but over years of meticulous work we have developed OUR recipe from all the puzzle pieces. I’m writing it down here. The main ingredients are white cabbage and pasta. White cabbage is a no-brainer, but pasta is a bit more difficult to find in northern Germany. In Good Old Austria it’s simple; the pasta is on the supermarket shelf. In northern Germany, you can make do with tagliatelle or short ribbon pasta. Order online and you’ll have them the day after tomorrow.