Haluski (Pan-Fried Cabbage and Noodles) with Kielbasa

Here's another comfort food from Eastern Europe. Poland, Romania, Hungary, and a couple other countries have a a few variations to the basic fried cabbage, pork, noodle, and butter combination. Haluski (Ha-LUSH-key, ha-LOO-skee or HA-loo-skee, depending on your origin) is also very popular around the Pittsburgh area, where locals have made this dish their own.

Those Eastern Europeans, like all us Americans in the northern regions, have perfected solid hearty foods for cold winter nights. This homey dinner will feed a crowd, and it's cheap, filling, and utterly craveable.

I've made a couple changes to suit my taste and to cut down on the fat - feel free to update it the way you like it, too This is fabulous with juicy Polish sausages.

Ingredients

1 pound sausage or bacon, cut into serving-size chunks
1 pound egg noodles
3 cups cabbage, shredded
2 cups onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp Hungarian paprika (sweet or hot, your choice)
2 tsp salt

Directions

In a large frying pan, brown the sausage or bacon on all sides until cooked. Remove to a platter and keep warm.

Boil the egg noodles according to the package directions. Drain well and toss with a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking.

In the pan used to cook the kielbasa, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the cabbage and onions and saute over medium-low heat until tender and a little browned. You can boil or steam the cabbage before frying it if you prefer, but we like the way the onions and cabbage caramelize together.

Add the noodles and combine well. Stir the pepper, paprika and salt into the broth, then stir it into the noodle mixture. Place the sausages on top. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Serve on a big platter, and dig in! 

Serves 6.