Adventures in Cabbage Rolling

Flashback 20 years. Setting: a warm kitchen somewhere in small town Canada. Time frame: the middle of autumn. Children fling themselves off the school bus and down the long dirt driveway. As the children enter the house, the thick stench of cooked cabbage slaps them in the face. Oh, horrors! It's cabbage roll time again.

Fast forward 15 years. Setting: a different small town in Canada. Time frame: the middle of autumn. A young married couple flip through flyers on a Saturday morning. Husband finds the M&M meats flyer: "Oooh, cabbage rolls! Do you know how to make those?"

Wife shudders. "No. I don't really like cabbage rolls."

"They're really good! You should try them!" Husband encourages.

Wife tries to suppress post-traumatic memories of completely sogged out cabbage swimming in watery tomato sauce. "Perhaps we could buy some for you."

Present day: small town Canada in the middle of autumn. I have eaten store bought cabbage rolls a few times now. The ones from M&M really are not too bad. I have managed to suppress the memories of horrible cabbage rolls from my childhood and managed to put the severe aversion to cooked cabbage smell behind me.

I have come across umpteen recipes for cabbage rolls in the past few weeks and I have been plotting to give them a try. Today I finally had the opportunity. I was under the impression that they were a lot of work. Cabbage rolls are surprisingly easy to make and are not a huge time commitment.

Here is what you will need:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 lb lean ground pork
• 1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup milk
• approximately 12 large cabbage leaves.
• 1- 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 splash worcestershire sauce

* Just a note about buying a suitable cabbage: think big and loose. You want a cabbage that has leaves large enough to fit your filling. Try to find a large cabbage with leaves in good condition. A cabbage loosely grown cabbage will also make your cabbage rolling life easier.

Here is what I did:

• For the filling: in a large bowl mix together the meat, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, rice, egg, and milk.
• For the sauce: in a separate bowl whisk together the tomato paste, worcestershire, brown sugar, and chicken stock. Set aside.
• Cut out as much of the core of the cabbage as possible. Carefully remove leaves one at a time taking care not to rip them. Cut off the thickest portion at the end of each leaf. Bring a large pot (make that huge) to a rolling boil on the stove and blanch the cabbage leaves a few at a time until they are pliable. This took approximately 2-3 minutes. Drain and put aside. Alternatively, you can steam the leaves or microwave them in a covered dish.
• Using one leaf for each roll, place 1/4 cup of filling at the stem end, tuck in the sides and roll up tightly.
• Place in the bottom of your crock seam side down. Continue rolling for remaining ingredients. You can pack the rolls fairly tightly in the crock and two layers will cook nicely. Over the first layer of rolls pour half of the sauce. Cover with a second layer of rolls and pour the remaining sauce over the top.
• Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mine were done in about 6.5 hours.

We were amazed that they could be cooked in the CrockPot. They turned out very nice. Not too mushy with a nice thick tomatoe-y sauce. Unfortunately when it is all said and done, the house still stinks like cooked cabbage but I am making therapeutic progress!