I’ve never been to Berlin. I’ve never been to Germany at all, actually. I do have a cousin who lives there with her family, and a friend who went to Berlin and, by all accounts, had a wonderful time. This is the extent of my connection. Oh, and we also watched an episode of “No Reservations” where Bourdain goes to Berlin, during which time he had some currywurst from a street vendor. I flashed on the memory of that when I read this post on Bitchincamero. I couldn’t remember whether the genuine article had involved pasta or not; I figured it probably did just because it sounded like such a perfect match. Turns out that’s not so, but Germany, take note: combining pasta with your sausage and curry sauce is a genius idea whose time has come! Direct your thanks to Mel of Bitchincamero!

I think if I made this again, I’d up the curry factor and diminish the mustard. It was very delicious as it was, but the first thing you’d think of upon tasting it was mustard, not curry. I did third the recipe to serve 2, since the original served 6, although not having a 1/3 tsp measure, I had to fudge it a bit. I ditched the cabbage (even though that’s super-German, I know) because neither of us care for it. But this recipe got me to bite the bullet and buy some fennel seeds, because I love fennel and it had become a bit silly that I was ignoring recipes that contained it just because I didn’t want to buy any more spices.

Currywurst

Ingredients
enough pasta for 2 people – I used the remains of my large macaroni
3/4 tsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced
4 oz kielbasa (that’s a quarter of one of those U-shaped ones from the supermarket), sliced
something under 1/4 cup white wine
2 tsp mustard – I used Polish beer mustard
2 tsp tomato paste
let’s say a heaping 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
and let’s say a somewhat shy 1/4 tsp curry powder
1/3 cup of the pasta-cooking water

Method
Cook the pasta until just shy of al dente. Remember to save 1/3 cup of the water before you drain it.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a pan.
Add the shallots and saute until translucent, about 4 minutes.
Add the kielbasa slices and continue sauteeing until the slices are browned on both sides.
Remove the shallots and kielbasa from the pan.
Deglaze the pan with the wine.
Now throw everything but the noodles into the pan – the mustard, tomato paste, fennel seeds, curry powder, pasta water, and the shallots and kielbasa.
Stir until it forms a cohesive sauce.
Now chuck the noodles in and stir for about a minute, during which time the noodles will absorb most of the liquid.