Recipe Thursday

Today's recipe is very near and dear to me. My family is Slovak and one of the mainstays of the Slovak diet is sauerkraut. I have always loved it and anytime its on the menu at a restaurant you can bet I'll order it. This dish was one of my favorites growing up. Kapusta is a sauerkraut and meatball soup that is just divine. I'm making it tomorrow for the first time ever in my life. Mircea is a huge fan of sauerkraut and I figured it was time he had some of my families traditional cooking instead of all that Romanian fare. I doubt anyone is going to make this, but I'll tell you-it's totally worth it!

Kapusta

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 onion
3/4 cup cooked rice
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
paprika

Mix all of above and form into meatballs

1 small can stewed tomatoes
2 16 oz cans sauerkraut
1 small onion
2 bay leaves

Thickening
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup flour

Directions
1. Add sauerkraut, meatballs, tomatoes and garlic to a large pot. Cover with water. On LOW HEAT cook until meatballs are throughly cooked through. Cook at least 1 1/2 hours.

2. Over medium heat, mix shortening and flour in a small frying pan. Stir with a wooden spoon constantly until golden brown. Do not burn. Add 1/2 of thickening to the soup-add the rest as necessary to get desired thickness.

This makes enough to feed an army!