Get rollin this weekend!

With the icky weather really setting in, now’s the time to really make use of winter staples like cabbage, carrot and squash. Lately I’ve been craving homemade comfort foods and took advantage of a trip to my parent’s house (and their spacious kitchen) to make my version of a favorite sunday dinner, cabbage rolls.

This is a recipe I have tweaked over the years, hopefully for the better. I know it's traditional to leave all of the ingredients raw and cook them for over 2 hours, but I’ve always precooked everything so you can pop them in the oven for a short time and be done. This recipe is pretty easy to execute but time consuming, so give yourself a couple hours and some minions (ahem helpers) - cooking is a team sport!

Recommended Tunes: Mama Mia Soundtrack (and not the Meryl Streep version)

Not your Nona's Cabbage Rolls!

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage

2 cups rice (cooked)

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground beef

1 lg onion diced

1 cup carrot diced

1 cup celery diced

1 clove garlic diced (not a fan? 1/2 clove will do)

4-5 eggs

to taste red pepper flakes, paprika, celery seed, oregano

to taste salt & pepper

Make some cuts to the bottom of the cabbage to loosen the top leaves before submerging in a pot of boiling water. Keep an eye on it and peel off the layers as they become flexible. Cut the tough bottom part of the leaf off in a triangle to ease rolling.

Filling

Cook rice and let cool. Brown ground beef and pork adding in the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Combine mixture with rice into a giant mixing bowl when cool. Add in eggs, herbs, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. 

Sauce (Blend):

2 cans whole or diced tomatoes

1/2 cup brown sugar (or more if you like sweet)

1 lemon juiced

dash Worcestershire Sauce 

dash Tabasco (more if you like spicy)

Assembly!

Start with a layer of sauce in a deep baking dish. Get ‘er done by placing a couple spoonfuls of filling in each leaf, folding the sides in and rolling like a burrito (or like they roll up your sandwich at Subway). Place bundles seam side down in the dish until full and then cover with sauce. (reserve about a cup of sauce for people who like it saucy :)

Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 min, take foil off and bake for 15 more min.

Serve with mashed potatoes and a nice Gamay or Pinot Noir. This is a comfy sunday dinner for family or friends, or freeze and take out for a quick weeknight bite. Happy Eating!