Cabbage
Cabbage is the vegetable Good Friends Good Food cooked this past week. Lately, the only thing I do with cabbage is coleslaw. But, that would not do for this post. So, I pulled out a blast from the past, Stuffed Cabbage. It is a dish that I made when my children were young and I did a lot of cooking. My husband and I have been married over thirty years and I don’t think I have ever cooked the dish for him.
Preparing Stuffed Cabbage
Most importantly, this dish doesn’t require special ingredients. For instance, I have everything except the cabbage on hand most of the time.
This is really a simple and easy dish to prepare. However, two things prevent it from being in my typical rotation. Firstly, while quick to assemble, it has to bake for a long time. However, this can be overcome by planning. Secondly, I am not crazy about pulling apart the cabbage leaves. I am not a fan. Despite the aggravation of the leaves, this is a good dish.
Recipe for Stuffed Cabbage
Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Chuck
Large Head of Cabbage
1/2 c. Rice
Small Onion, Grated
2 Eggs, beaten
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
Large Onion, sliced
Large Can Tomatoes, 29 oz (I prefer whole Tomatoes)
Tomato Sauce, 8 oz.
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/2 c. Brown Sugar
Directions
Firstly, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat a large pan of water to boiling. Core cabbage and separate 12 of the leaves. Cook leaves in boiling water until barely tender. (Trim thick part from leaves.)
Meanwhile, combine in a medium bowl the meat, rice, grated onion, eggs, and first salt and pepper that is listed. Divide mixture among the leaves so that each leaf has mixture that is slightly larger than a large egg. After that, wrap each leaf around the mixture and place in a large baking pan or Dutch Oven with seam side down.
Pour tomatoes over all. After that, add tomato sauce, lemon juice, and onions. Lastly, sprinkle second salt and pepper and the brown sugar evenly over all.
Bake, covered, for 2 hours.
My Stuffed Cabbage Result
We certainly enjoyed this dish. My husband really loved it and said that I can feed it to him any old time. The long baking time gives a full, rich flavor to the onions and tomatoes. Also, it makes a lot and the leftovers are every bit as good as they were the first day.
Good Friends Good Food
Most importantly, if you like cabbage and are looking for other recipes, click on the links below. Also, check out my page, Vegetables with Good Friends, Good Food to see links to other vegetables the group has cooked.
Kayte’s Stuffed Cabbage with Guyere and Jalapeños
Margaret’s Southern Fried Cabbage and Sausage
Ulrike’s Pointed Cabbage Salad with Smoked Almonds and Bacon Dressing
In conclusion, holiday green vegetables will be up next for Good Friends Good Food. I certainly can’t wait to see what these talented ladies do with that option.
Happy Cooking Y’all
This looks interesting. And it includes meat so a one dish meal! You know I love those!
In Germany we know this as cabbage roll or roulade. I served a vegetarian version with mashed potatoes years ago. Your version sounds very delicious.
Thanks Ulrike.
Oh we haven’t had stuffed cabbage like this forever…both our grandmothers used to make it and I never think to do it. Yours looks yummy. This is something I will make now that cold weather has set in. I’ve been making everyone’s cabbage recipes…who knew this ingredient was missing in my life?? I have one question: do I need all that sugar…what would be missing if I left it out or greatly reduced the amount? I don’t want to miss out on the flavor if it’s an integral part of this dish.
Kayte, you could probably reduce the sugar by half, but I think some is needed because of the lemon juice. If you make it with less sugar, let me know what you think. I may want to reduce the sugar in my recipe.