Cabbage Rolls

When my parents got married back in 1964, one of their wedding presents was an Encyclopedia of European Cookery. I loved that book. It was like a big minty-green bible, and had all kinds of weird and wonderful recipes. The photographs were really bad--they did nothing for the food, but I still loved that book. (Not quite as much as I loved the Butterick, Simplicity or Vogue pattern books that my mom used to get for me from the fabric shops she would frequent). Anyway, while I was in South Africa this last time, I had alot of time on my hands, and spent many hours going through my mom's recipe books and binders so that I could bring back a nice collection of things that reminded me of my childhood dinners. One of my favorites was the Cabbage Rolls from the above-mentioned European cookbook. What's funny is that at the time, I didn't eat meat. My mom used to make special vegetarian rolls for me, and I'm pretty sure that the last time I ate this I was still in my "Meat is Murder" phase, so had never actually eaten the real thing. Good God, the things I was missing...

Here's the meat version of the recipe. Vegetarians, you're on your own.

1 white or green cabbage
2 onions, diced
3 tablespoons butter
1 lb ground beef
salt and pepper
1 cup cooked rice (you can use more if you want these to be more rice-y)
1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh thyme
handful of chopped, fresh parsley
pinch of grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar (white) or lemon juice
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1. Cut out the core of the cabbage, and soften leaves by immersing the whole head in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. This makes the leaves easier to detach. Detach leaves and set aside.

2. Saute onions in 1 tablespoon of butter. Add ground beef. Cook until no longer pink, and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the cooked rice, 1/4 cup of the chicken stock, thyme, parsley and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. Stuff leaves with the beef/rice mixture by placing a scoopful on the end of the leaf closest to you  (the narrower edge), and roll up like a burrito. You can secure the rolls with toothpicks that you've soaked for a few minutes. (If you're a pro, like my mom, you won't need to do this.

4. Saute the rolls quickly in another tablespoon of butter.

5. Pack leaves into a casserole dish (I used a 9 x 13 pyrex).

6. Melt remaining butter. Whisk in flour until blended. Stir in remaining chicken stock. Add tomato paste and sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes and then remove from heat. Add vinegar and sour cream/yogurt and pour over cabbage leaves.

7. Bake at 325 minutes for 45 minutes to an hour.

Cook's Notes

1. I used yogurt instead of sour cream. I think it helps counteract the fat content of this dish.

2. I didn't use the whole cabbage. Even though I still had some filling left over (I used more rice), as well as some leaves, I stopped at about 7 rolls since that's what fit into my dish.

3. If you're afraid of mushy cabbage leaves, it's not a bad idea to put the cooked head of cabbage on ice for a bit before you detach the leaves so it stops cooking. This also makes it easier to handle, of course.

Comments

[Hilary]

My mom makes rolled cabbage for all of our guests (50 people!) each year for Rosh Hashana. And she even makes me some with ground turkey.

[denise]

Hilary, 50 people? That's a lot of cabbage rolling. I am in awe of your mom. And she even makes a special version for you. We're lucky to have the moms we do.