Chicken and Bacon Choucroute with Potato Salad

Choucroute garnie (French for dressed cabbage)is an Alsatian recipe for preparing cabbage with sausages and other meats and potatoes. Alsace, France is a region on the Rhine river by Germany and Switzerland. This the origin of my German grandmother. The thing is during the 30 year war the boarder between France and Germany went back and forth...so Alsace could of been in Germany when her family was there. They ended up in Baden Baden, Germany. Either way sausage, chicken and sauerkraut is a win..win!

You want something different for Easter? This is it! Serves 8.

Ingredients:

Potato Salad:
1 lb baby Yukon Gold potatoes
Salt, to taste
2 small shallots, finely chopped
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup tarragon leaves

Choucroute:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 lbs chicken skin-on thighs or breasts
Salt, to taste
8 oz bacon, sliced into 1/2” lardons
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 large sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon juniper berries
2 lb (2 cups) sauerkraut, rinsed and dried
1 cup dry white wine
2 lbs kielbasa or bratwurst

Directions:

Potato Salad:
In a saucepan add in the potatoes cover with 2” water, salt water and bring to boil. Then reduce to simmer for 20 minutes, until fork tender. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, whisk together the shallots, oil, vinegar, mustard, hot sauce and honey in a large bowl, season with salt. Add the potatoes to the dressing and toss to coat, let sit for 15 minutes to an hour. Then fold in tarragon leaves right before serving.

Choucroute:
Place oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 400F. Drizzle oil in a large skillet and heat on med/high. Season the chicken and add to skillet skin side down. Cook undisturbed until skin is golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Once skin releases from the skillet, turn over and continue cooking until browned evenly, additional 6-8 minutes. Set aside on a plate. Drain all but 1/4 cup of grease from skillet.

On medium heat add bacon lardons and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a paper towel. Cook garlic 3 minutes, then add in the thyme, berries and cook 1 minute. Add in the sauerkraut and wine, increase heat to med/high and cook, stirring occasionally, until wine is almost completely evaporated, 6-8 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.

Place sausage in a 3qt baking dish and pile sauerkraut mixture on top (submerging sausage). Arrange chicken and bacon on top of sauerkraut. Pour 3/4 cup water and bake until chicken is cooked through (internal temperature reaches 160F), 25-30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with the potato salad. Yum Yum!