Heat oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add sausage and onion and cook, stirring often until onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Add paprika, caraway seeds and wine and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes so flavors are released. Stir in sauerkraut, potato and tomato paste. Add broth, stirring to blend. Cover pot and cook until liquid begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring from time to time, for 1 hour, or until potatoes are tender. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

If at all possible, use freshly made sauerkraut and kielbasa from a market that specializes in European (especially Eastern European) foods – the quality of this soup will VASTLY improve with the higher quality ingredients. However, this may not be possible for everyone, and the soup will still taste good, but if you want it spicy, add a dash of either hot paprika (Pride of Szeged imported from Hungary is the best, IMO) or cayenne pepper. Personally, I like the hot paprika, and if I’m hungover, a dash of cayenne as well. Remember that I grew up in San Antonio and was weaned on jalapeno juice, so if you don’t like the hot stuff, Pride of Szeged makes perfectly good mild paprika.

Any good soup needs bread on the side. For this, I recommend a good quality French, Italian, pumpernickel, or other baked bread of your choice.

Anyway, I think it’s tasty, it’s affordable, the sauerkraut is loaded with good old Vitamin C, and best of all, it’s so easy to make that even a barbarian can do it.

Photo by HatM under Creative Commons license