Cabbage and Sausage Casserole

Once again, I don't have a photograph of my own to show.  Next time I fix this, I promise I'll add one - but it doesn't look special at all, as you can tell from this one adapted for the short term. The basic recipe can be found in lots of places around the web, and there dozens of additions to it. It is good both as a side dish or a main dish.

Both of my daughters have Rheumatoid Arthritis and are cleaning their eating habits. We dropped all items that mentioned gluten, sugar, and dairy. Makes preparation a lot easier, doesn't it. Yet we need to keep flavor and savor to keep it interesting as well as healthy.

So, here are the ingredients we used for six servings:

• 2 pounds pork sausages (Italian was suggested, but use your favorite and experiment with others, too. Check for MSG or other inflamatory additives)
• 1 large cabbage (about 4 pounds) cored and thickly shredded
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt
• Nutmeg - and additional favorite spices as you desire

The instructions are a bit more involved:

Heat oven to 300 degrees.

1. Butter a two-quart lidded baking dish (or appropriate if increasing/decreasing servings.)
2. Prepare cabbage: One person suggested pouring boiling water over the cabbage to wilt, another suggested cooking the sausage and wilt the shredded cabbage in the grease. Another did not wilt - I prefer wilting in the sausage grease, and adding the salt, pepper, nutmeg (we like it!).
3. Put about 1/3 of the wilted cabbage in the buttered dish and cover with 1/2 the meat. Season the layer - optional. Repeat, ending with layer of cabbage. Some dot with butter - optional, and I don’t.
4. Cook for 2 hours @ 300 degrees. After that, uncover the dish and check to see it is browning well and for excess liquid. If there is excess, leave lid off; if not, cover again - either way, increase oven heat to 350 and cook for another 30 minutes.

As I mentioned earlier, there are a widely varying recipes on the web that start with ground pork and cabbage. Here is a compilation from some we thought interesting, but haven't made changes yet:

• Cook sausage with onion (and/or green pepper) before layering
• Add your family's favorite spices
• Mix in your favorite sauerkraut 
• “10 oz of spicy chicken Apple sausages & used just over 2 lbs cabbage, very happy with this proportion, wilted down the cabbage in a Dutch oven instead of blanching.”
• “Sometimes sausage, sometimes bacon or pancetta (differing proportions). I always brown the meet, rendering some fat, then brown - or wilt really - the cabbage in the rendered fat, adding salt and pepper. Skip the butter! Pork fat is better! Then in the oven using the same dutch oven as used for the browning. NO BOILING! and only one pot! “

I can tell you this is NOT fried cabbage with sausage. But, it is very delicious, even without sausage, I imagine, but haven't tried yet.