Kale & Bratwurst (Grun Kohl)

I get funny looks when I head to the checkout stand with loads of Kale. It's good, really! While I've seen recipes for sauteed kale that sound good, we "braise" it in a pressure cooker. We've tried using a slow cooker instead, but for some reason it just doesn't come out right. Cooking it for a long time over really low heat just seems to leach out all the flavor before it's tender. Like most greens, it benefits greatly from being cooked with pork fat of some sort. Even though this is a sausage dish, we still throw in a slice of bacon.

• 5 bunches of Kale


• 6 Smoked Brats (Saag's are good)


• Steel cut oats


• 1 slice of bacon, diced


• 1 onion, diced


• Vodka or white wine


• Crystal Sauce


• Water

1. Wilt the kale in batches in a big pot (can do some in the pressure cooker too--this is just to get the kale to fit in the pressure cooker)


2. Render bacon in a pressure cooker


3. Add kale


4. Add onion and sausage


5. Add oats


6. Add water, vodka (or wine), a few dashes of Crystal Sauce, and ~1 tsp of salt


7. Pressure cook for ~25 minutes


8. Open, reduce to desired consistency, and season to taste