Saturday, October 23, 2010

Cabbage Rolls


I find that I have "light bulb" moments when I realize that some of my most beloved foods are naturally GF/DF/SF like cabbage rolls. I was at a local relief sale and they had "cabbage roll" cabbages for $2 each. There is a difference when it comes to cabbages and even cabbage roll recipes - my best friend makes her family's with a pickled cabbage. For the recipe of my childhood, you need a loose head of cabbage so that squeaky tight green head of cabbage at your local grocer is really not ideal.

1.Remove the outer leaves - the head was in really good condition so I ended up using mine - but in most cases discard.
2. Core the cabbage
3. Place in a large pot of simmering water and ladle hot water into the core hole - let sit until the leaves start to soften - I removed them as they came lose - flipping over the cabbage during the process makes it easier - set on a clean kitchen towel. Repeat

For the filling there are infinite options - I grew up with a rice, beef and pork mix. The filling is cooked rice (make a large batch the night before), sauted onions, carrot, celery and bacon and raw beef seasoned and mixed well together. Raw? Yes raw beef. Add the appropriate amount of filling to the cabbage - roll up and place tightly together in a casserole dish - layering if needed. I used pureed tomatoes and water with seasonings for my sauce - this is something I would suggest you Google and look for what you have at home/remember - this varies as much as the filling.

In the end while it sounds like a crazy amount of work - it really isn't and it makes a large amount of food for very little - I passed off more than half of my recipe to my neighbor and dad and still was eating cabbage rolls for a while.

2 comments:

tash said...

Yummo- I never thought about putting bacon in the mix. Now this might be a plan for Sunday afternoon! I am inspired!

Single and Picky said...

I have been craving them again because they are so freaking simple - I think I might just be doing it on Sunday too