Flooshs Stuffed Cabbage Recipes

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• For the sauce: Heat oil, then cook onions and garlic until soft. Add 8 cups water and stir, then add tomato puree, sugar, raisins, salt, pepper and citric acid and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes.
• For the filling: Meanwhile, mix beef, eggs, onion, peppers, rice, garlic powder, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup water in a bowl by hand until well blended. Work in breadcrumbs until mixture is firm. Roll the meat into logs approximately 2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. Refrigerate while preparing cabbage leaves.
• For cabbage leaves: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Place entire cabbage in pot, core-side down, until outer leaves are softened and easily removed. Remove the outer leaves, then replace cabbage in water until next leaves can be removed. Continue in this manner until you have about 30 leaves.
• Lay a few leaves flat, overlapping them, to make a piece big enough to enclose a ground beef log inside. Place a ground beef log on top of the leaves. Roll the leaves up from the bottom, turn the sides in and continue to roll up. Repeat with next leaves. Place on cookie sheet until all logs are rolled.
• Transfer rolled leaves to a 12-by-10-inch baking dish and pour the sauce over the top. Bake, 1 hour 30 minutes.

FLOOSH'S STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Place cored cabbage head in an extra-large pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil on the stove. Once boiling, cover and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, rotating the cabbage occasionally with tongs or a large heat-resistant spoon, until the leaves soften, loosen, and begin to fall off the head. Remove the pot from heat. Carefully remove the cabbage head and leaves from the pot, drain it, and let it cool. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce and filling.
• To make the filling: Combine onion, garlic, turkey, ketchup, tomato paste, and sugar in a large bowl. Knead with your hands until the mixture is evenly combined. Set aside.
• To make the sauce: Combine cranberry sauce, jam or preserves, marinara sauce, and salt in a large glass measuring cup, and stir with a whisk or fork until smooth. Set aside.
• Once the cabbage is cool enough to handle, gently remove 14 large leaves. (Refrigerate the rest for another use.)
• Prepare the (empty) extra-large pot used to boil the cabbage by spraying it lightly with nonstick spray. Lay one cabbage leaf on a dry surface and spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of filling into the center of it. Spread filling out slightly and roll the cabbage up around the filling like a burrito, folding the sides in first and then rolling it up from the bottom.
• Place it seam-side down in the pot. Repeat with remaining 13 leaves and remaining filling, gently stacking the rolls in the pot, if needed. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls, covering as much of the exposed cabbage as possible.
• Cover the pot and set the stove temperature to low heat. Cook for about 1 hour, until the filling is cooked through.
• Gently remove the cabbage rolls and serve topped with the sauce. Garnish with scallions, if you like!

GOLABKI (STUFFED CABBAGE)

Steps:

• For the sauce: Heat up tomatoes in a saucepan over medium-low heat until they begin to boil, then remove them from the heat. With an immersion blender, blend in cubed butter one piece at a time until the sauce is smooth and emulsified. Season with salt and a dash of cayenne if you like it a little spicy, but not enough to scare your Mom-Mom.
• For the cabbage: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Slice off the bottom of the cabbage head and insert the knife around the core to make a square of insertions into the core of the cabbage. (Do not completely core the cabbage.)
• When the pot is boiling gently, drop the cabbage head in and boil it until outer leaves are softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the cabbage head and wait a minute for it to cool, then begin to gently peel the outer leaves away. When the leaves are no longer soft and they become hard to peel, place the cabbage head back into the boiling water for another 4 to 5 minutes. Repeat removing the leaves and then boiling the cabbage until you get down to the core or the leaves become too small. (It's a good idea to boil extra cabbage leaves so you have the extras just in case the leaves rip.)
• Saute onions with a dash of canola oil in a saute pan over medium-low heat until onions are translucent. Combine sauteed onions with cooked white rice and allow to cool.
• Combine ground beef, pork, veal, eggs, onion and rice mixture and salt and pepper in a large stainless steel bowl. Mix until well combined, then set aside. (We'll call this the filling from here out.)
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Place 1/4 cup filling into the bottom of a cabbage leaf. Tuck the sides of the leaf in and roll the leaf up and over and make a small package. Place the finished roll seam-side down in a 12-by-10-inch baking pan that's at least 2 1/2 inches deep. Continue with the remaining leaves and filling and tuck them tightly into the baking pan. Pour 1 inch vegetable stock into the bottom of the baking pan. Cover the cabbage rolls with a sheet of parchment paper, then cover in foil. Bake for 25 minutes.
• Remove cabbage rolls from the oven and turn it down to 325 degrees F. Take off (but reserve) foil and parchment paper. Pour off the vegetable stock (no need to save it; it'll taste like cabbage water...yum). Top the drained cabbage leaves with just enough tomato sauce to coat the top of the cabbage and make a small pool under the rolls. Replace the parchment paper and foil and bake the cabbage rolls 45 minutes more.
• Serve the finished golabki by topping them with a ladle of the reserved sauce, a little fresh dill, and a dollop of sour cream.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• If the leaves don't peel off, blanch the whole head in boiling water until each layer strips off. You need 16 big leaves. Return the leaves to the pot and cook for 2 minutes until pliable. Drain and cut out the thick, tough part of the stem.
• Mix the stuffing ingredients together and form a 1/4 cup of it into an oval. Place it in the center of a leaf. From the stem end, roll it up once. Tuck in the sides and roll up the rest of the way.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• In the oil, saute the onions to golden, then saute the garlic for one more minute. Add the tomato sauce and beef stock. Whisk in the paprika. Shred the remaining cabbage and spread it on the bottom of a large baking dish. Arrange the stuffed cabbages seam side down, on top of the shredded cabbage. Cover with the sauce. Bake covered for 1 hour, adding more liquid as necessary to keep cabbage moist. Uncover and bake for another hour.

GIANT STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Position a rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Rub the inside of a 3-quart round soufflé dish with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Set aside.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the cabbage leaves for 2 minutes to soften (they will continue to cook in the oven). Gently nudge them into the water with a large spoon if they float to the top during cooking. Drain and set aside.
• Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil with the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently with a heatproof silicone spatula, until vegetables are softened but not browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the meat, parsley, rice, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to the vegetable mixture. Stir to combine well using the spatula.
• Layer enough of the cabbage leaves to cover the bottom and up the sides of the souffle dish in a single layer, overlapping as needed to fill any visible gaps. Use the larger leaves as the veins are more pronounced; the bottom will be the presentation side after it is cooked and flipped over.
• Gently spread about 1 1/4 cups of the meat mixture in the bottom of the dish in an even layer on top of the cabbage leaves. Evenly spread 4 tablespoons of marinara sauce over the meat mixture. Cover with a layer of cabbage leaves. Repeat with another layer of meat mixture, marinara sauce and cabbage leaves until all the meat mixture is used. Reserve the remaining marinara sauce for serving. Tuck the final layer of cabbage neatly into the sides, gently pressing down all around to compact it.
• Tightly cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake until the cabbage is tender and the rice is cooked through, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, but do not remove the foil. Allow to cool and set for at least 1 hour. Remove the foil and gently invert the stuffed cabbage onto a serving platter. Serve with the reserved warmed marinara sauce.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt it generously.
• Core the cabbage. Gently peel away the leaves to expose the heart (by heart, I mean the ball of more yellowish leaves at the center which are too tightly packed to bother prying apart). Cut out that core of inner-most leaves and shred to add to the stuffing. Cut the thick ribs out of the remaining leaves (they will look like you've stolen a sliver from a pie). Set aside.
• Blanch the cabbage leaves for 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, and refresh under ice-cold water. Drain and pat dry with a towel.
• Break the bread into crumbs in a bowl, pour over the milk and set aside to soften. Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet and gently fry the onion and shallot until transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage, mushrooms, garlic and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Add the bread and cook until the milk has evaporated. Stir through the quatre-epices and season generously with salt and pepper. Add this mixture to the sausage meat in a large bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. Make a small ball and fry it in the frying pan. Taste it to check the seasonings. Adjust as needed.
• Lay a tea towel on the counter with a piece of cheesecloth or muslin large enough to wrap the cabbage in. You're going to reconstruct the cabbage, but with layers of stuffing between the leaves. So, first lay down the large outer leaves, in a circle, slightly overlapping with the prettiest side out. Spread over a layer of stuffing. Lay over another layer of leaves and repeat the action. Continue until you have run out of leaves. Pull up the edges of the cheesecloth, like a bag, and twist, as if making the head of a puppet, to shape the cabbage into a round loaf shape. Tie a string around the beard of cheesecloth where it meets the cabbage ball, to secure the package. The cabbage can be prepared to this stage in advance, refrigerated and then cooked before serving.
• To cook: Steam the cabbage over water or good chicken stock (about 2 cups/500 ml of it) for 45 minutes. The flavor from the stuffed cabbage will drip into the water or stock and give it the most amazing flavor. When the cabbage is done, boil down the cooking juices and serve a spoonful around each wedge of cabbage in a soup bowl.

STUFFED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Place cabbage head in freezer and freeze overnight. Remove from freezer, thaw and peel away leaves.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine the beef, egg, onion, rice, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Take a small handful and form into a small roll or ball. Place into the center of a cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf over and roll the ball up into the leaf. Place seam side down in baking dish. Continue until all of the filling is used up.
• Mix together the soup with a 1/2 can water; pour over stuffed cabbage.
• Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour; baste often with the sauce.