Hosta Hill Sauerkraut with Bratwurst

Here in the Berkshires we are blessed with being able to find a farmers market nearly every day of the week.  On Saturdays we like to head to either Pittsfield or Great Barrington, the later of which where we discovered Hosta Hill Sauerkraut.  Tucked under a lovely bunch of trees was a little table and gorgeous jars of different fermented vegetables including crimson kraut, spicy kimchi and sauerkraut.   These products are beautiful.  Gorgeous labels, stunning colors inside the jars and best of all- simple ingredients.  We purchased the “plain” sauerkraut as we wanted the kids to give it a go.  Consisting only of green cabbage and sea salt and using vegetables grown using no synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers we knew this would be really, really good.  Sometimes sauerkraut is too watery.  Hosta Hill kraut is all vegetable.

Because it is Saturday, and we have been cooking meals ALL week for two kids who seem to NEVER stop eating…we decided to make dinner simple and so on our way home from the farmers market we headed over to The Meat Market, also in Great Barrington, where we picked up some bratwurst and a baguette.  If you haven’t been to The Meat Market yet, you should plan a trip.  A true butcher with none of that pre-packaged overpriced garbage you get at the regular grocery store.  Here you pay for real meat which has been locally raised and pasture fed.   Our wurst was boiled in beer and a scoop of the kraut for about 20 minutes before we removed it and finished it off in a hot frying pan.  It was incredibly flavorful and topped with the crunchy sauerkraut and some really good French mustard. More often than not all you need are really good simple ingredients to make the best meals.