Sauerkraut Mashed Potatoes -- Something Solid to Make While the Sauce Jars Cool

The tomato sauce sprint is on. The Brandywines are coming in faster than I can process them on any single day and the counter is at any given moment home to a dozen tomatoes at various stages of ripeness, the kitchen smelling of warm tomatoes and basil from before eight in the morning until after dinner. I put up eight quarts Wednesday and seven more Saturday and the total is now thirty-one quarts, which puts me past the target and into the abundance zone where the sauce goes to friends and neighbors in addition to the pantry.

Ted got four quarts and Patricia got two and Bill will be getting a package of two quarts shipped in the early cold when they will survive the transit. Bill does not have a tomato garden in the same quantity I do — his beds are more modest and the season in coastal Maine is shorter — and the Vermont sauce has become a September tradition in his household. He wrote to say that when the box arrives he makes pasta e fagioli that same night with the first jar, which has become his specific use for this specific sauce. I liked learning that. The sauce travels four hours by mail and becomes one particular dish on one particular evening every September. That is a satisfying journey for a quart of tomatoes.

Teddy started his senior year of high school this week. He texted on Sunday evening: one year left then Providence. I did not need more context — Providence means the culinary program he had mentioned in August, and one year left means he is treating his senior year as the last chapter before the next thing begins. I wrote back that a senior year done with full attention was more useful than a senior year spent waiting for it to end, and he responded with a longer message than usual: that he understood that, that he was planning to work in a restaurant kitchen two evenings a week through the fall and spring, that he wanted to arrive at cooking school having made real mistakes in a real kitchen rather than only at home. I told him that was exactly the right plan and that real kitchens would teach him things I could not and that was good, not threatening. He said he knew the difference between learning from a kitchen and learning from a grandfather and that he intended to keep doing both.

Thirty-one quarts in and the pantry is as full as it gets, which means dinner itself can be something straightforward and grounding—the kind of dish that asks nothing complicated of you after a long day at the stove. Sauerkraut mashed potatoes have that quality: they’re tangy where the tomatoes were sweet, filling in a way that closes out a working day, and simple enough that Teddy could have made them on a Tuesday night after his restaurant shift without thinking too hard about it. I make them often in September when the big preserving work is behind me and I want something that tastes like effort without requiring any.

Sauerkraut Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 lbs russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup sauerkraut, drained and roughly chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup whole milk or heavy cream, warmed
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives or parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Boil the potatoes. Place cubed potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a medium boil and cook 15–18 minutes until fork-tender. Drain thoroughly.
2. Mash the base. Return drained potatoes to the warm pot. Add butter and mash with a potato masher or hand mixer until smooth and no large lumps remain.
3. Add the dairy. Stir in the sour cream and warmed milk, mixing until the potatoes are creamy and smooth. Adjust consistency with additional milk if needed.
4. Fold in the sauerkraut. Add the drained, chopped sauerkraut and caraway seeds if using. Fold gently to distribute throughout the potatoes without overworking them.
5. Season and serve. Taste and season with salt and black pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with fresh chives or parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 220 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 310mg