Cabbage Rolls

Dear Sons,

It is funny how there are traditional foods that you grow up eating on a regular basis. You LOVE these foods. Yet once you are an adult, for whatever reason, you only make them once in a great while.  I guess for me it depends on how complicated or intense a dish is… I wonder if that means I am a lazy cook?

Take cabbage rolls for instance: they are not “hard”, maybe a little fiddly, but not hard. We all LOVE them, yet I only make them about twice a year. Maybe I don’t make cabbage rolls as often because while the taste is heavenly, the smell of cooking cabbage has never been one of my favorite smells.

I have found the perfect little trick for helping with the initial sulfur-like smell of cooking cabbage! I always add a whole cut-up lemon or lime and a couple of bay leaves to the salted boiling water. This does two things: helps with the smell, and bumps up the flavor!

Many cabbage roll recipes have very thick tomato gravy that they are cooked in. Honestly, that is how Granny’s original recipe was. I tweaked the recipe, though.  Now it has a savory, thinner beef gravy with just a hint of tomato.

I think one of the greatest lessons I learned from my grandma is to view a recipe as more of a guideline: To read it through, and then think about whether it can be improved upon or changed up to fit with my family’s tastes and dietary needs. Sometimes the improvements work… sometimes, not so much!  I hope that you both are never afraid to try something new, change something up, look outside the box – you never know, you could be creating your new favorite dish!

Love you like a crazy loon, boys!

Cabbage Rolls

Tender cabbage leaves rolled up around a savory meat, rice and spice filling, topped with a rich beef gravy with hints of tomato. Comfort food taken to the extreme.

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs

Course Main Dish

Cuisine German

Servings 6 People

Ingredients

  

Rolls

• 1 head Korean cabbage If you can not find a Korean cabbage you can use Napa
• 1 medium onion grated (reserve 1 TBSP to be used in the gravy)
• 1 cloves garlic grated
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup cooked white rice
• 2 egg
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 cube beef bullion
• 1 tsp parsley finely minced
• 1 tsp thyme finely minced
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper optional
• 1 tsp pepper

Gravy

• 2.5 cup beef stock
• 3 TBSP Marsala cooking wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 3 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 cube/envelope chicken bullion
• 1 TBSP onion grated
• 1 clove garlic grated
• 1 tsp parsley finely minced
• thyme 4 full stems.
• 2 TBSP butter
• 2 TBSP flour

Additional Ingredients

• 1/2 gallon water boiling and salted to cook the cabbage in. The water should have enough salt to taste like the sea.
• 1 TBSP salt
• 1 whole lemon cut in half, added to the boiling water
• 2 whole bay leaves

Instructions

 

Cabbage:

• Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, add 1 whole lemon (or lime) cut up and 2 bay leaves.
  
• Korean cabbage is a squat big cabbage, with bright white green leaves. It is a loose cabbage, which makes it easier to pull apart. If you can not find a Korean cabbage look for Napa cabbage. Napa cabbage has long loose leaves. With either cabbage you want them in the boiling water just long enough to soften the leaves. 
  
• Remove the center core of the cabbage and add it to the boiling water. Simmer with covered for 10 to 15 minutes. Just enough time to soften the leaves.
  
• Drain and lay all the leaves out on the table. Cut the thick hard vain out of the center of each leaf.
  

Gravy:

• Add the two TBSP of butter to a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Melt and stir in flour, make sure you cook the flour and butter together for 2-3 min. This will toast the flour and give it a sweet nutty flavor.
  
• De-glaze the pan with the Marsala cooking wine or the apple cider vinegar. I have used both and the finished dish tastes yummy with either!
  
• Add the beef broth, onion, thyme and garlic. Simmer the sauce for 10 to 15, you want to reduce it down by about 1/2. Taste and add salt and pepper.

Filling:

• Mix the meat, cooked rice, onion, garlic, herbs and spices together. Finely chop the small inner leaves of the cabbage and add to the meat and rice mixture.
  
• 
• 
• Add a ladle full of the gravy to the bottom of your baking dish.
  
• Lay a cabbage leaf flat on counter. Add a small portion (2 heaping TBSP) of the meat and rice mixture about 1 inch up from the bottom of the cabbage leaf.
  
• Fold the bottom of the cabbage leaf up over the meat mixture. Fold the two sides of the cabbage leaf in and roll up tightly.
  
• Lay the rolled up cabbage rolls in a single layer on top of the ladle full of gravy.
  
• Pour remaining gravy over the cabbage rolls.
  
• Bake COVERED in tinfoil for 1 hour in a pre-heated over. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 min.
  
• Serve with fresh baked bread!