Gemüseeintopf mit Kartoffeln und Würstchen (vegetable stew with potatoes and sausages)
A hearty, everyday vegetable stew built around potato and whatever vegetables are on hand, finished with sliced Wiener or Bockwurst warmed through at the end rather than cooked in from the start, which keeps them plump instead of shrivelled. A weeknight stew more than a special-occasion one.
Prep20 min
Cook35 min
Servings4
Christoph's everyday potato and sausage stew, the sausage warmed through at the end rather than simmered from the start so it stays plump.
Ingredients
Written for a 4 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Stew
- 500 g waxy potatoes, peeled, in 2 cm chunks rounded
- 200 g carrot, peeled, sliced rounded
- 150 g leek, sliced into rings, well rinsed rounded
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 30 g neutral oil rounded
- 1 L vegetable or beef broth rounded
- 1 bay leaf rounded
- 150 g frozen peas rounded
- 6 Wiener or Bockwurst sausages, sliced rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped, at the table (optional) rounded
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion and leek with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes, until softened.
- Add the potato and carrot. Pour in the broth, add the bay leaf, and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer 25 minutes, until the potato and carrot are tender.
- Stir in the frozen peas and simmer 3 minutes.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Add the sliced sausage and let it warm through gently for 5 minutes without boiling hard, which would toughen it.
- Season with salt and pepper. Scatter with parsley at the table.
Method in the Thermomix
Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl.
- Onion and leek into the dry bowl. Chop 3 sec / speed 5. Add the oil. Sauté 5 min / 100°C / speed 1, measuring cup off.
- Add the potato and carrot, in chunks, along with the broth and bay leaf. Cook 25 min / 100°C / reverse / speed 1, simmering basket on the lid.
- Add the peas. Cook 3 min / 100°C / reverse / speed 1.
- Remove the bay leaf. Add the sliced sausage. Cook 5 min / 90°C / reverse / speed 1, gently, so the sausage warms without breaking apart.
- Season with salt and pepper.
Notes
- Add the sausage at the end, not the start. Simmered from the beginning, sliced sausage turns rubbery and loses much of its own flavour into the broth; a short warm-through keeps it plump and juicy.
- This is a weeknight stew, built for using up what is on hand. The vegetable list is flexible; potato, carrot and leek are the backbone, everything else can flex.
- It reheats well the next day, though the sausage is best added fresh if reheating a large batch, since it softens further on a second simmer.
Ingredient substitutions
- Wiener or Bockwurst can be any pre-cooked sausage that slices well.
- Beef broth gives a richer result than vegetable broth if you are not keeping this vegetarian.
- Frozen peas can be diced green beans, added with the potato and carrot instead, for a slightly firmer texture.
From Christoph Mayer