Kuchen and Sausage

After my trip back to North Dakota to visit my new niece (love you Claire!), I was inspired by CJ's Restaurant in Fargo, ND to try my hand at kuchen.  I had the most delicious piece of rhubarb kuchen there and decided that I simply could not wait another 6 years to have another!  So I decided to bring kuchen to Alaska. 

As I began my quest for the perfect kuchen recipe, it soon became apparent that finding the perfect recipe would require a long line of German ancestors with the same 4x6 recipe card that had existed for the past 100 years.  I soon found that Google was inadequate for this mission.  In an attempt salvage my dream, I decided the most scientific and accurate way to choose the perfect recipe was to pick the website that provided the picture of kuchen that most resembled the image of kuchen in my mind.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!  Though my efforts were rewarded with a delicious concoction of fruit, custard, and doughy crust, it was not the kuchen of my childhood and, therefore, the recipe will not be provided here.  Instead, I would make a plea to all of you who do possess the priced ancestral kuchen recipes to enlighten the rest of us and fill our bellies with its goodness!  Here are some pictures from my little adventure.

Elbows deep in kuchen, I look up to find my handsome husband standing there with this beautiful bouquet.  It's my blog so I can brag if I want too!

We also spent the night with some wonderful friends and I got a chance to make one of my favorite sandwiches ever.  We don't eat a lot of sausage but this is an amazing recipe for any sausage or brauts you may have lying around.  That and I have fallen in love with piquillo peppers!  They are sweet and spicy and so much more.  If you haven't tried them, I recommend you do. 

For this recipe you can use any sausage but we used venison.  I bought some ciabatta rolls from the store and, voila!, a delicious sandwich you can make anytime!  Here is the recipe:

Sausage, Arugula, and Piquillo Pepper Sandwiches

• 1/2 cup finely chopped green olives
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ciabatta or other rolls about the length of sausages, split
• 4 bratwurst, andouille, or other flavorful, fully cooked sausages, split
• 1/2 cup bottled piquillo peppers, drained and cut into strips
• 2 cups baby arugula

Combine olives and oil, then spread on bottom halves of rolls.

Heat a grill pan or large heavy skillet and cook sausages until done.  Cut sausage into 

lengths to fit rolls, if needed.

Assemble sausage, argula, and peppers on roll and enjoy! 

 

 

Until next time!

Alaska Fun Fact: If New York City had the same population density as Alaska, only 16 people would be living in Manhattan.