The Houndstooth Gourmet

Stuffed cabbage is a dish associated with Eastern European and Asian cultures. It usually consists of cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of meat and grains, such as rice. Growing up in a Polish household, we called these golabki (little pigeons) pronounced ga-WOOM-key. Green leaf cabbage is stuffed with ground meat, either beef or a mixture of beef/pork/veal, and cooked with white rice which is seasoned with salt and pepper. The tomato based sauce can include tomato juice, sauce, puree, soup or even ketchup.

I have always loved golabki, even though as a kid I would peel the cabbage off and shove it to the side, hoping no one would notice (my Nana did). Now I embrace the cabbage and enjoy it as much as I do the meat filling.

Over the years since I have taken over making this dish for my family, my recipe has evolved as an amalgamation of me, my mom and Martha Stewart’s mother.

Unlike my mother and most other people,I do not cut the rib/vein out of the cabbage because I feel I can roll a perfect golabki with the cabbage leaf intact. To make sure that the cabbage, even the rib is tender, I braise the golabki low and slow. This method occured to me after several attempts at this dish which ended up with mangled cabbage rolls due to stuffing squeezing out, and al dente cabbage. One day, while standing in line at a small Port Richmond (Philadelphia) cafeteria style restaurant called Syrenka’s. As I was standing in front of what basically is a large steam table, I realized that the reason why her golabki were so darn tender was because they were cooking for a very long time, hence, the cabbage transformed into a silky, think layer over well-melded, tender filling. The lightbulb went off right then and there, and the next time I made golabki, I kept the rib in, rolled the golabki perfectly, and used the basics of braising to cook it. Viola!

My mother always used a combination of condensed tomato soup and ketchup for the sauce. I have tried changing this up with tomato puree and tomato juice etc. but I’ve decided the flavor of the original sauce suits me the best and is most evocative of my childhood memories of this dish. By the time the dish braises in the oven, the sauce tastes of the meat, vegetables and cabbage. It’s sum is more than the parts, so to speak.

Martha Stewart uses her mother’s recipe for stuffed cabbage. Being Polish, Mrs. Koystyra’s recipe closely resembles my grandmothers, except it has more flavor in the meat, with onion, garlic and green peppers.

Thanks to all of my influenes in developing this dish, I’ve come up with  my favorite version of stuffed cabbage. I hope you enjoy it too.

Ingredients;

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup ketchup

1 large head green cabbage

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef or meatloaf mix- ground beef, pork and veal

1 medium onion, fine diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped in food processor or grated

1 cup white rice, cooked

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 strips uncooked applewood-smoked, thick-cut bacon

Directions:

For the cabbage

Core cabbage and place head in gently boiling water. Using tongs, remove leaves gently as they become loose and start to give. Transfer to collander to drain.

For the filling

Cook rice according to package directions. In pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and green bell pepper to pan. Sautee until softened but do not brown. Transfer to bowl to cool.

In a separate bowl, add meat mixture. Add eggs, rice and cooled vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste. Gently combine but do not over work the meat. In a small heated pan, cook a small patty of the meat mixture and taste for seasoning. This step is very important as you will not be able to adjust the seasoning of the filling once it is stuffed in the cabbage.

Once you are satisfied with the seasoning, you are ready to assemble. First, spread a small amount of tomatoe soup in the bottom of a baking pan. Take a cabbage leaf and place a small handfull of the meat mixture at the base of the leaf. Roll like a fajita and place cabbage roll seam down in the pan. Repeat until you have rolled all of your meat mix.

Spread the remaining tomato soup evenly over the top of the cabbage rolls, followed by the ketchup. Add 2-3 strips of uncooked bacon over top of rolls (optional). Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in on the middle rack of  a preheated 300 degree oven. Braise for 2 1/2-3 hours, basting the rolls with the sauce occasionally.

Remove from oven and allow cabbage rolls to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

*This recipe has been entered into Habeas Brulee’s food blogging event “A Recipe From The Crease Of My Right Eye”

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Tags: veal, cabbage, tomatoes, Recipe, pork, beef //