Had a great trip to England, but more on that later. I arrived home today to find the blood oranges at their peak and, for those of you who know me, that means one thing: vin d’orange.

This recipe comes from a little and too-little-known book by Georgeanne Brennan, called The Glass Pantry. Where else are you going to find a recipe for making your own capers from nasturtium buds? It also has a recipe for candied rose petals. (They were a big hit on cupcakes at Rosie’s eighth-grade graduation party.) She describes her vin d’orange as “a California version of an old French farmhouse recipe for a flavored, fortified wine.” Over the years, I’ve modified it until I’ve found a combination that seems perfect, so here’s my recipe for one bottle. (Chez Larbo, things have gotten so out of hand that I now mix my batches up in five-gallon carboys, with three cases of wine going into this year’s production.)

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Choucroute garni (shoo-kroot gár-knee) simply means “sauerkraut with garnish.” Sounds a lot fancier in French, doesn’t it?

This traditional dish comes from Alsace, that border region whose culinary and winemaking traditions are a wonderful amalgam of French and German influences. The basis of the dish is sauerkraut (“sour cabbage”), but instead of the pungent, sour, salty, pickled cabbage that Americans are used to eating with a hot dog or on a Reuben, this recipe soaks the kraut to remove much of the sauer brine, and then mixes it with onions, carrots, and apples, and slowly braises it with chicken stock and white wine until rich and mellow. Cooked in this way (with potatoes, of course!) it makes a perfect bed for a winter feast of pork: bacon, smoked pork chops, sausages, etc.

The recipe that follows may not be a “true” or authentic choucroute, but it’s close enough, fairly easy, and entirely scrumptious. This is really hearty peasant food, and the ingredients are very flexible: feel free to reduce or leave out what you don’t like and add more of what you do like. If you’re going to be gone all day, just turn the oven temperature down to about 300 F; you can put it together in the morning, leave it in the oven all day, and then add the potatoes and meats when you get home to finish cooking while you chillax with a glass of wine.

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