Another Great Fusion Project

Today I take on the traditional Jewish/Russian Dish Galumpkins or better known as Cabbage rolls. The major problem with them in my world is you have to make so many and they just taste like meatloaf in cabbage. Now don't let me down you Buppy's recipe....if it tastes like home than you should do it. I'm just figuring I wanna put a little Southern American Caribbean swing on it. So for you die hard traditionalist here is the classic recipie.

Stuffing

11/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 packet of Meatloaf Seasoning or Onion Soup Mix 

2 tablespoons Ketchup

1 pound ground beef

1 large egg

1 cups steamed white rice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each

Sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, smashed

32 oz Marinara Sauce

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon vinegar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make sauce First

Saute garlic in evoo and add can of tomatoes and Marinara Sauce. Bring to a boil turn down to Med add Sugar and Vinager. Simmer while you prepare the rolls

Making the Rolls

Combine the ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, and cooked rice. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the large, damaged outer leaves from the cabbages and set aside. Cut out the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife and carefully pull off all the rest of the leaves, keeping them whole and as undamaged as possible, (get rid of all the small leaves and use them for coleslaw or whatever.) Blanch the cabbage leaves in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, or until pliable. Run the leaves under cool water then lay them out so you can assess just how many blankets you have to wrap up the filling. Next, carefully cut out the center vein from the leaves so they will be easier to roll up. Take the reserved big outer leaves and lay them on the bottom of a casserole pan, let part of the leaves hang out the sides of the pan. This insulation will prevent the cabbage rolls from burning on the bottom when baked. Use all the good looking leaves to make the cabbage rolls. Put about 1/2 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage and starting at what was the stem-end, fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Place the cabbage rolls side by side in rows, seam-side down, in a casserole pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour the remaining sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. Fold the hanging leaves over the top to enclose and keep the moisture in. Drizzle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 1 hour until the meat is cooked.

My Next post will have my rendition and photos. Gimmie a little why I will have it soon!