East European style beef sausages

Saturday, I still had about a pound of ground beef left to cook, and I wanted to do something different with it. I eventually decided  to make an East European style dinner. 

This didn’t really fit one particular country. I just worked with what I had. The sausages have kind of a Romanian flavor, with the garlic, so we can pretend this is a Romanian dish. But my neighbor came over for dinner, and we were drinking Czech beer, so we could also call it Czech. Whatever, here’s how I made dinner.

1 lb. ground beef

6 cloves of garlic

2 tbs. Hungarian paprika

Adobo seasoning

2 eggs

Thyme

1 cup of flour

Cooking spray (Pam)

1 mild jalapeño

1 cup of beef stock

16 oz. tomato sauce

Egg noodles, cooked and drained

Preparation

Several hours before you plan to cook, place the beef in a bowl. Coarsely chop about 6 large cloves of garlic and add them to the ground beef. Sprinkle on about two tablespoons of paprika, and then sprinkle on some adobo seasoning, or your favorite seasoned salt. Now add about a teaspoon of thyme, and the two eggs. Use your hands (stop complaining) and mix the eggs into the ground beef. Continue until everything is well mixed.

Place the flour in a bowl. Use your hands to shape the ground beef mixture into little three inch sausage shapes. It will be a little messy, and the sausages will be loose. As you shape each one, roll it in the flour, and then set it on a platter. Continue doing this until all the beef is used up. Wash your hands, cover the sausages with parchment paper, and set them in the fridge for at least four hours. Pull some steak bones out of the freezer, and make a little beef stock, and let it simmer for an hour.

When it is time to prepare dinner, take a large oven-proof skillet, and spray it with cooking spray. Set the chilled sausages in the pan, and place that under a hot broiler. While that is broiling, take the mild jalapeño, and remove the seeds, and then finely chop it.

You want the sausages to be charred on top, then turn them over and char this side too. Remove the pan from the broiler. Add the peppers and then add the beef stock. Stir in the tomato sauce and sprinkle on about a teaspoon of thyme, and some adobo seasoning. Stir well, and turn the sausages so the least charred sides are facing up. Return this to the broiler. Let that simmer under the broiler for about ten minutes, stirring often, and you are ready to serve.

Serving

Place a pile of egg noodles on a plate, and then set a couple of sausages next to the noodles. Ladle some of the sauce over both. Set a pile of warm sauerkraut next to the noodles, and add some green beans which were simmered in beef stock. Now slice the homemade rye bread, and pour an ice cold Czech beer. Finally set out a bowl of wilted cucumbers and onions, and a bowl of cherries. Now you can ring the dinner bell.