Blanched cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and ground beef (I lightened them up with ground turkey), braised in a tomato sauce. These are one of my comfort foods. When these are cooking if I close my eyes I am walking into my Babci’s house. It took some time, but I think I found her “secret” ingredient...dill. This recipe can feed an army depending on your appetite-in any case you will probably have some leftovers
Serves 4-6
1 medium head cabbage, cored
1 small onion, diced
1 pound ground turkey
1 ½ cups par-cooked rice (simply cook rice for about 6 minutes, drain and rinse)
½ teaspoon/2ml salt
¼ teaspoon/1ml black pepper
1 teaspoon/5ml dried dill
28 ounce/794g tomato puree or sauce (if you have leftover spaghetti sauce use that)
Preheat oven to 350F/176C/GasMark 4
Using a sharp knife cut the core out of the cabbage bottom. Heat a large stock pot with salted water to a simmer. Place the cabbage in the water. Cover and cook 2-3 minutes until you can pull off individual leaves. You should end up with 15-20 leaves that are big enough to use. Chop remaining cabbage. Place on a plate or kitchen towel to drain. Mix the onion, turkey, rice, salt, pepper and dill in a large bowl. When leaves are cool enough handle place a tablespoon/15ml of the mixture on each cabbage leaf. Tuck sides and roll up leaf sealing in the filling. In a casserole dish large enough to fit the rolls, place the chopped cabbage and about 1 ½ cups/375ml of the tomato sauce in one layer on the bottom. Place the cabbage rolls seam side down on the cabbage tomato mixture. Pour remaining sauce over the rolls. Cover with foil and bake for 35-45 minutes.
Serve with dill mashed potatoes
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