Haphazardly Hobbying

I’ve got a great recipe to share with you today – something so delicious, in fact, that I can never remember to take a picture of the finished product before I dig in (as you may be able to tell)!!

Let me start by saying that I don’t think I ever ate stuffed cabbage as a kid – it just wasn’t something my mom ever made – so I’ve discovered this deliciousness fairly recently. I posted a teaser picture of this dish way back when, but never quite got around to posting the recipe itself – so last time I made it I made sure to snap a bunch of pics so I could show you just how easy it is to throw together!

This recipe is a great way to use up leftover cooked rice – which is tucked into the filling to make it a true one-dish meal – and the other ingredients are basic pantry items that I almost have on hand. It is also really easy to make ahead of time. Plus, it makes great leftovers – check out the end of the post for Matt’s ingenious Stuffed Cabbage sandwich!

Without further ado, though, I give you:

The Cast of Characters.
(Except for the egg and the garlic, which I forgot
to grab for this photo shoot.)
Also, do you think that maybe I need more light in my kitchen?
Yeah, me too.

You’ll need:

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or pork (I use a mixture of the two)
1 cup cooked rice
1 head green cabbage
1 large or 2 medium onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar

Heat a large pot of water, leaving  about 2 inches headroom.

While your water is coming to a boil, prepare your ingredients. Mix your filling – beef, rice, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, milk, and egg – in a large bowl. Cover and set aside.

It may not be all that pretty now, but it will be DELICIOUS soon.

Once your water starts to boil, add your cabbage head, stem up. Reduce heat to medium and blanch for about two minutes. Remove carefully from the water (leave the water on the heat!) and drain the cabbage. After the cabbage has cooled for a moment, carefully peel 12 to 15 whole leaves off the head. If your leaves begin to tear, you can always plunge the cabbage back into the heated water – that should loosen things right up. Also, it’s ok if you have some small tears – the wrapping process covers all manner of mistakes.

Gather about a golfball-sized amount of meat filling and place it in the cup of one leaf, like so:

Then just roll it up like a burrito, making sure to tuck in the sides to make a neat little package:

When you’re done, it should look something like this:

Place each roll in a shallow baking dish. Continue to stuff cabbage leaves until you run out of room in your baking dish or until you run out of meat mixture, whichever comes first. I had a little leftover meat mixture, which Matt promptly claimed and fried up like a burger because he’s impatient. By the way, it’s delicious that way too

Imagine Picture of Cabbage Rolls Covered in Sauce Here.