Bierock Casserole

Bierocks are a traditional German dish. They're usually pastry or rolls stuffed with beef and sauerkraut or cabbage. I noticed a recipe once that was a bierock casserole and I loved that idea but noticed the recipe seemed bland and needed more oomph. So I took the idea and ran with it and decided to make it for my German potluck where I made the German Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Cream Puffs.

I think it is safe to say that a lot of people are turned off by sauerkraut. I know it does not smell the best but I love it. I think it is delicious, especially on a brat with brown mustard and onions. I expected that my potluck guests would be reluctant to try this dish because of the sauerkraut but they all tried it and proclaimed that they actually liked it and barely noticed the sauerkraut. Yay! I love surprising people with food!

Some fun facts about German food and drink (for fun thats why!)

You would have to try one kind of German bread per day for almost a whole year in order to be able to taste them all! There are over 300 different kinds of bread in Germany.

Germans really do love beer; they rank second in world-wide beer consumption per person after Ireland.

Betcha didn't know one of those! ;)

Bierock Casserole

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3 (8 oz) cans refrigerated reduced-fat crescent rolls
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb turkey sausage
2 cups sauerkraut, drained
1 (1 oz) package dry onion soup mix
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 cup dark german beer (such as becks or st paulis girl)
1 1/2 cups pepperjack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Brown onion, ground beef and sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat. Drain fat then stir in beer, sauerkraut, onion soup mix, caraway seeds, and garlic powder and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Press one and a half packages of crescent roll dough in the bottom of a lightly greased casserole dish (9x13). Spread the meat and sauerkraut mixture on top. Sprinkle with pepperjack. Then layer the rest of the crescent roll dough on top of the beef mixture, overlapping just a little. Sprinkle with the parmesan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top.