Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

The cabbages around here are looking huge and firm and healthy these days, so what better way to use the leaves than rolled up with a hearty filling! I've had a package of New Roots Farm's heritage breed pork sausage in the freezer since...January, I think...not to mention a pound of Wee Bit Farm's grass-fed ground beef, and it also just so happens that the wild rice and shiitake mushrooms I cooked up the night before never made it to their dish, so, cabbage rolls or bust!


For a meatless version, which is simply a delicious dish in and of itself, go with lots of fresh, crunchy, colorful veggies such as finely chopped celery; grated carrot; corn kernels; peas; blanched, diced green beans (or even canned beans, such as black, pinto or kidney); chopped bell peppers (any color!); summer squash or zucchini (particularly yummy when in season!); chopped water chestnuts (not exactly local); or even non-crunchies such as chopped spinach, swiss chard and bok choy.

Experimenting with rice is fun, too.  You can easily substitute short-grain brown and long-grain white rices for the wild.  You can also use a combination of all types!  Whatever moves you!

For a listing of other essential ingredients, keep reading...
Have on hand the following:

1 large cabbage
For filling:

~2 cups cooked rice
1 stick of butter.  I'm kidding.  2 Tbsp will suffice. 
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lg shallot, minced
a good handful mushrooms, any kind you like, chopped
couple stalks of celery, diced
1 tsp caraway seed, toasted preferred, but not critical
or, any other herbs/seasonings that you like
s&p

For sauce:

1c water or stock
3c tomato puree, veggie juice, or reconstituted tomato paste
Squirt of honey or agave nectar or 1 tsp sugar
Squeeze of 1/2 a lemon
s&p
Mix all together. Set aside

Ready?

Get a big nonreactive pot of salted water rolling (aluminum pots will darken your cabbage leaves, so use either stainless-clad, glass, or an enameled dutch oven).

Here's a great tip for blanching your leaves: slice out as much of the core as you can muster (with finesse!) before you do anything else. Then drop the whole head into the boiling salted water. After a few minutes, the outer leaves will start to pull away very nicely. Using tongs, take those that are willing and lay them out on a tea towel. It will take 10 or 15 minutes to get through the entire head, but your leaves will be perfectly blanched and tender and all in one piece! You'll also have a very good idea of which leaves should take center stage, AND the time to snip out some of the stem end of each leaf (making them easier to roll)!  When finished, set the leaves aside.  Empty the cooking water from the pot and set aside for cooking your filling.

Turn your oven on to 375 (your oven will be on for almost an hour, so this is a great dish for a chilly, early spring meal!).  Have on hand a 9x13 pyrex pan.

In your pot, saute the onion and celery in the 2 tbsp butter.  Add the mushrooms, garlic and shallot to the pan once the onion is soft. Shiitakes take a bit to cook, so be sure to get them into the pan early. If using bell peppers or green beans, toss them in now.  Add the tsp of caraway seed, stir, then kill the heat. Don't worry about the caraway seeds - they'll soften nicely.  Now is also when you add any other veggies (corn, peas, summer squashes, etc.).  Season the entire pan with salt and pepper--don't be frugal, there's a lot of food in here--and any other herbs/seasonings that float your boat - dill weed, thyme, cayenne....

Add in the 2 cups of cooked rice (I prefer wild rice for its snappy texture). This is also when the raw meats go in (squished into the concoction with hands to assure even consistency). Remember- these babies are going to cook in the oven for nearly an hour, so the meat does not need to be cooked prior to stuffing.  Plus, you don't want to be rolling these things with hot filling.

Pour a small amount of sauce into the 9x13 pan--just enough to skim-coat the bottom.  Line the pan with the smaller leaves.

Now, lay a "center stage" leaf out in front of you, with the leaf tip closest to you. Place a good amount of filling--1/2c or more--onto the leaf in a mound, forming it a bit into a log shape. Take the tip of the leaf and wrap it over the mound of filling. Pull in the sides (think burrito style) and continue rolling toward the stem end. Do this for all of your leaves, aiming for at least 12 rolls.  Place rolls into pan with seam side down.  Once your sauce is poured all over the top, you should end up with something that looks like this:


Place the filled 9x13 onto a rimmed baking sheet (just in case of boil-over) and bake for 45-50 minutes, less if not using meat.  Baste the rolls several times throughout the cooking process.

Serve with hot, crusty sourdough, pumpernickel or rye bread, and garnish with sour cream (which can easily be doctored up with horseradish, or more caraway, or chopped chive...)!


Enjoy!