Day Eight: Country Cabbage Soup

Next to broccoli, cabbage is my favorite vegetable. I love it in slaw, on tacos, sautéed, boiled, and steamed. I wanted a new way to prepare it and found this recipe. Simple ingredients makes this a nice and easy weeknight soup. It reminds me of a deconstructed stuffed cabbage.

Country Cabbage Soup

2 lbs ground beef
2 cans (28 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 medium head cabbage, shredded
2 large onions, chopped
6 celery ribs, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, season and cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink;drain. Add the tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and celery and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

Vegetable Stuffing

Sorry if you came across this post looking for a tasty holiday treat. Honestly, I don't like stuffing at all, I just liked the play on words. Anyway, as you are aware I am not from the "old country", but I love comfort food as much as the next girl. Every country, region, city, town, village, family has their own comfort foods. I bought a huge head of cabbage from HMart the other week and I wanted a different way to prepare it other than the usual steaming. So I decided on stuffed cabbage. Its a eastern European favorite that is made differently in different regions. You can stuffed it with lamb, beef, or pork and bake it in broth or a tomato sauce. Here's a recipe for the Polish version:

 Polish Stuffed Cabbage

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 whole head cabbage, about 4 pounds
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup beef stock
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. You will need about 18 leaves.

When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through.

Chop the remaining cabbage and place it in the bottom of a casserole dish or Dutch oven.

Saute the chopped onion in butter in a large frying pan until tender, and let it cool.

Mix cooled onions with beef, pork, rice, garlic, salt and black pepper until well combined. Don't overmix or the meat will become tough.

Place about 1/2 cup of meat on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.

Place the cabbage rolls on top of the chopped cabbage in the casserole dish or Dutch oven, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper. Pour beef stock over rolls, cover and place in oven. Bake for 1 hour or until cabbage is tender and meat is cooked.

Serve with pan juices and a drizzle of sour cream, or mix the pan juices with sour cream and ladle it over the cabbage rolls.

Cabbage rolls freeze well before or after cooking, and can be made in a slow cooker (see your manufacturer's instructions).