Stuffed Cabbage
I’m married to a Pennsylvania boy and I’m a California girl. When we met our food preferences were VERY different. They still are but we’ve found some common ground. One thing that Shaun asked me to make and that I had never had was Stuffed Cabbage. An acquaintance gave me a recipe, which I modified (in true Chelsea fashion) and now this is one our most favorite meals. It even awakened a love of Sauerkraut that I never knew I had!
Ingredients:
-1 head of green cabbage
-1/2 onion, chopped
-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 pound leanest ground beef (ground poultry works well too)
-8 ounces of mushrooms, chopped
-1.5 cups cooked rice/grain
-1 TBSP Braggs Amino
-2 tsp garlic powder
-Ground pepper to taste
-1-16oz can of chopped tomatoes (optional-I can’t have tomatoes right now but I usually do add this)
-1 jar tomato marinara (optional)
-1 large jar of Sauerkraut
*The filling is the same as my stuffed peppers
Instructions:
-Preheat the oven to 350*
-Cut the stem off of the cabbage.
-Steam the cabbage for about 15 minutes or until the leaves are wilted but still hold shape.
-While the cabbage is steaming, brown the onions and garlic until glistening. Add ground beef.
-Once the ground beef is almost cooked, add the mushrooms and seasonings.
-Add the cooked rice and stir to incorporate.
-I have an abundance of spinach so I added some of that too (really you can throw anything that wilts down in this filling). This is the point where I would normally add the tomatoes.
-When the cabbage is done, douse it with cold water so that you can handle it.
-Take one leaf of the cabbage and put about 1/4 cup of filling into it (in a rectangle pan).
-Fold the cabbage around the filling to make a sort of burrito. I fold the sides in first and then use the stem and the base of my rolling.
-Repeat until you’ve used all the filling.
-Cover with sauerkraut-including the juice from the jar (and marinara, if using).
-Place in oven and cook for about 20 minutes or until the sauerkraut juice is bubbling.
-ENJOY!
Shaun rates this a 5 out 5. I give it a 4. It’s really good but I find I need some additional veggies to accompany the meal (see the salad in the first picture). Before this recipe, I HATED sauerkraut. The fist time I mad this I made two pans, one with and one without. The without pan just had tomato sauce. I decided to try Shaun’s and it was SO.MUCH.BETTER.
See? The Pennsylvania boy really did teach me a trick or two. Don’t even get me started on pierogies!
Category: Gluten Free, Recipes 13 comments »
I like pierogies, but had never heard of them before meeting my Northeast Ohio husband. Has Shaun ever asked you to make Hog Maw? It’s pretty big in parts of PA and MD (where I originate). I hates it. But truthfully it’s not so bad. I just can’t get over the..er..wrapping. I went to Scotland once, though, and had haggis and realized that hog maw is not that far from it, the potatoes are just larger and it’s cooked in a different casing. I can’t imagine what California would think about Hog Maw, though. 😀
omg I gotta try this! Casey LOVEs sauerkraut!
chelsea — tell shaun there’s a stuffed cabbage dinner at the polish national catholic cathedral down my street on april 25! (the birthplace of the polish national catholic church, incidentally.)
i always wondered about your food tastes, because i would assume they’d be different when east meets west (especially superduperethnic east).
i know you probably can’t eat them, but mrs t’s makes feta/spinach/potato pierogies that are AWESOME. i boil them, then fry them in a little EVOO just to get them firm. i’d eat them all day long if i could.
two last things (it was one last thing but i changed my mind) — i’ve never had piggies with sauerkraut, just tomato sauce. how do you feel about halushki? or kielbasi? my organic meat farmer (butcher? i don’t know. they raise meat and kill it) does skinless kielbasi that is AWESOME. next time you guys come to visit, if it’s summertime, you should come to my farmers market for some.
audrey — you mention pa and md — i’m guessing your from down by york/hanover??
oh that looks soooo good. i’ve never had stuffed cabbage before – nobody’s ever made it for me and i’ve never seen it at a restaurant. but for some reason i know i’d love it.
That looks so good, I have never made it before. I wonder what I could use instead of the ground meat?
We make something very similar to this that we call cabbage rolls. I’m so scared of what kind of food preferences my future husband will have. What if I fall in love with a man who just eats pizza and hot dogs?
Oh, he must be Polish!
Pennsylvania? Check.
Stuffed cabbage? Check.
Pierogis? Check! Check! Check!
These look yummy! I will have to add them to our rotation.
I was introduced to Pierogis from my boyfriends mom (it’s a German tradition) I’ve never had or seen packaged ones, the ones I have are always homemade and so delicious!
by the way, ms. linguist, stuffed cabbage happens to be called “halupki” (sometimes “holupki”). there’s your word of the day!
I am LOVING the comments on this post!!!!
Steph-I love that you called them “piggies” my MIL does too. Pigs in a blanket here are actually hot dogs with dough wrapped around them.
Audrey-Shaun said that he didn’t know what Hog Maw was and I’m afraid to look it up!!!
Mrs. Ts pierogies are SO GOOD. They are $5 for one SMALL box here. When we lived in DC we’d get a gargantuan bag at Costco for $6. I can’t eat them anymore but Shaun gets them for special occasions since they’re so expensive.
When I could eat them I would boil and then put a little butter in with them, seasoning salt and Parmesan.
Steph-there’s a place out at the Lake that makes AMAZING pierogies and potato pancakes but they’re only open in the summer.
a lot of people thing piggies are the wrapped weiners (wow, that sounded AWFUL!). we actually had a discussion of it in our news meeting a few weeks ago. but in NEPA, piggies/halupki/stuffed cabbage are the same! i have some in my fridge right now, actually, my great-grandmother’s recipe.
mrs t’s are about 1.79 a box here. jenna’s a pierogi queen. first time i let her try some, at a summer church picnic, she ate TWO ORDERS. hmmm — i wonder what that place at the lake is! might be worth the drive.
I grew up making pierogies with my Polish/Ukranian grandma. They are so much work that I usually just buy them (Target’s brand Archer Farms used to make them but I think they are being discontinued). None will ever be as good as my G-ma’s though!
Yumm this looks delicious. I need to try that with the mix fresh and preserved cabbage. I have a huge steamer I bought for dumplings I need to put to some extra use. I love cabbage or any vegetable from the Brassica family. Nice blog. Cheers!
Heguiberto