Mandy's Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

After seeing Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) make cabbage rolls on a recent show, I decided I wanted to make them...for the first time.  I started searching out recipes, trying to find one I thought I would like and what I found was that I liked many components of several, but no one recipe that fit what I was looking for.  So I can say that this recipe is truly mine. Here's what you'll need:

Sauce 

1 - 15oz can of tomato sauce

1/3 cup carrot & onions, finely minced

1/8 cup Craisins 

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

2-3 dashes worcestershire

1/3 cup red wine 
1/4 cup finely shredded cabbage

salt & pepper to taste 

Cabbage Roll Filling

1 large head of cabbage

1/2 lb ground pork

1/2 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked white or brown rice

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 eggs
3-4 dashes of worcestershire 

1/2 cup carrots & onions, finely minced

1 tb dried parsley

1 tb paprika

salt & pepper to taste

Begin by making your sauce so that it has some time to let the flavors develop. I minced the carrots and onions in my food processor, I highly recommend it. Other than that you can just toss all of the ingredients into your saucepan and cook on medium.

Next start mixing up your filling. In a bowl I put my ground pork and beef, eggs, uncooked rice, seasonings, bread crumbs and the carrot and onion mixture. Get your hands in there and mix it up well.  If it seems too wet add a bit more breadcrumbs to the mixture, it should form into a ball easily.

Next bring a large pot of water to a boil, core your head of cabbage and submerse the entire head for 2-3 minutes. Carefully remove it to a colander and let it cool for a few minutes. Start removing the whole cabbage leafs and lay them on a paper towel. If you start to pull some off that don't seem as flexible, put the cabbage back in the water for a few more minutes. It was at this point I realized I had plenty of leftover cabbage, so I chopped some up and added it to the sauce to add a bit more texture.

 Next it's time to start assembling them.  I spooned a bit of the sauce into the bottom of the pan to begin. With the cabbage leafs you want to cut out the tough stem, just a small triangle will be enough to open up the leaf (see the photo). Then take a small amount of the meat, maybe 1/4 cup and form it into a small roll. Center it towards the bottom of the leaf and roll up by folding the two ends over then tucking in the sides. Place each roll seam side down in your baking pan. Continue to do this until you run out of filling, but make sure to keep it at one layer.

 

 Once done top with the remaining sauce, cover and put it into the oven which has been preheated to 350 degrees. 

I let the cabbage rolls cook for 1 hour and then just because I'm cautious I decided to check for doneness. I took my digital thermometer, stuck it in the middle of one of the rolls and it registered 175 so I knew it was fine. I think one hour is plenty of time, if you are worried add 15 minutes.

 Now you're ready to dish up! I served it with a salad and make sure to spoon some sauce over the top. Depending on appetite this could be 3-5 servings.

 

This recipe received rave reviews from Todd and I really enjoyed it.  The sauce is tangy, sweet and something in there gave it a nice amount of heat - maybe the pepper or paprika? This was a bit more time consuming than I usually like for a weeknight, but it was worth it. I'm really glad I took the time to go over recipes and come up with one that suited my tastes. 

A few items worth mentioning:

• A food processor can same so much time in the kitchen.  I have this Kitchenaid, but even the less expensive ones will do the job most of the time. 
• I love my Cuisinart Dutch Oven, it's not a Le Creuset, but I don't know the difference at this price. 
• A digital thermometer is a good thing to have in the kitchen for checking meats and they're inexpensive too.