Chili con carne and pumpkin soup

Chili con carne and pumpkin soup, how does that sound to you? Looks like we officially fast-forwarded right into the fall season here in Munich. The temperatures have dropped distinctly within the last week, this year’s favorite red ballerinas had to make room for last year’s favorite brown boots. And while I love boots season (because of the boots, not because of the cold weather), culinary-wise I do have mixed feelings. No more peaches, no beergarden stints for the next months…

But when the sunshine broke through around lunch time, just in time to inspire my thought process around various lunch options, I decided for another beergarden staple: Sausage salad (Wurstsalat). A dish that took me more than 25 years to finally try and more than 30 to fall in love with – despite the fact that I was born right into a family of sausage salad lovers. Will you be easier to convince? Let’s see: It’s a perfectly hearty snack, easy to make ahead for a picnic or beergarden visit and it keeps well in the fridge. You do have craftspeople in your house? This is the perfect snack for them, year-round. You want to give it a little extra something? I give you three words: pumpkin-seed oil. Dress this salad with pumpkin-seed oil instead of regular vegetable oil and while this doesn’t necessarily add to the salad’s visual appeal (imagine dark greenish-brown cheese stripes…), the nutty taste makes up for it many, many times.

Prepare the ingredients: Peel and slice the sausage into either fine slices or stripes, the cheese into fine stripes. Cut the gherkins into little cubes and half the onions before you cut them into thin slices. Add the ingredients to a large bowl.
Dress the salad with water from the gherkins preserve, vinegar and vegetable oil, then season to taste with sea salt and black pepper and toss gently. Chill for at least half an hour – re-season if necessary – and serve with slices of fresh bread.