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Old-fashioned cabbage rolls

Published on 11 Nov 2011 |
2 Comments

Les recettes secrètes de nos mères
200 mets réconfortants qui nous rappellent notre enfance
Magazine Coup de Pouce/Les Éditions Transcontinental
Published: Fall 2011
$29.95

In the French section of this blog, I review the newest cookbook by magazine Coup de Pouce devoted to family homecooking Québec-style. Beyond the iconic dishes of our past, such as maple-flavoured baked beans, meat pies and pineapple-glazed roast ham, the editors explored the kind of everyday cuisine our Moms actually cooked, using such staples as Pillsbury dough for toads in a hole and Lipton soup for meatloaf.

For my English readers, I have limited myself to serving up the 4 recipes tested, and to great success I might add. This series will feature Cabbage Rolls, Mustard and Lemon Roasted Cauliflower, Vegetable and Beef Stew (chosen by my picky half) and Mac ‘n Cheese (selected by just-as-picky kiddo).

The most beautiful Savoy cabbage had been decorating my kitchen counter for over a week by the time I selected this recipe—an atypical choice for me since it requires over 3 1/2 hours from beginning to end. Who said cabbage rolls are family-friendly? Yikes. That said, the results were spectacularly savoury, although Monsieur hates cabbage and refused to go there, and kiddo dug through the rolls to better devour the stuffing. Cabbage gets such a bad rep, I swear. For once, I cheated and used only 1/4 cup of butter instead of the 2/3 cup suggested. Nope, even I can’t go there.

Adapted from:

    • Prep Time
    • Minutes
    • Cook Time
    • Minutes
    • Yield
    • 6-8
Old-fashioned Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients

  • 1 large cabbage, core removed
  • 160 ml (2/3 cup) butter (or 60 ml-1/4 cup if you follow my lead, it’s plenty) • 2 finely chopped onions
  • 180 ml (3/4 cup) cooked rice
  • 30 ml (2 tbsp) tomato paste
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) dried mint
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) paprika
  • 15 ml (1 tbsp) grated lemon zest
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 750 g (1 1/2 lbs) ground mix: beef, pork and veal
  • 4 bacon slices
  • 500 ml (2 cups) tomato juice
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) sugar
  • salt and fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

  • 1. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook cabbage around 15 minutes or until leaves start peeling off. Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle (not too much though or cabbage will toughen and become harder to roll, I find).
  • 2. In a pan, cook onions in butter until soft. Add rice and cook 3-5 minutes until covered in butter. Season with tomato paste, mint, paprika, lemon juice and zest.
  • 3. Add ground meat and brown over high heat until no longer pink. Season and let cool slightly.
  • 4. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).
  • 5. Detach cabbage leaves delicately. Stuff the smaller ones with 30 ml (2 tbsp) of rice stuffing, placed at the larger end, then rolled while folding the sides.
  • 6. In a large ovenproof dish oiled and lined with the larger cabbage leaves, fit in cabbage rolls. Cover with bacon, pour over tomato juice and sprinkle with sugar. Cover and cook in oven 2-3 hours.
  • 7. Serve with mashed potato, a winning combo!

Instructions

  • 1. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook cabbage around 15 minutes or until leaves start peeling off. Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle (not too much though or cabbage will toughen and become harder to roll, I find).
  • 2. In a pan, cook onions in butter until soft. Add rice and cook 3-5 minutes until covered in butter. Season with tomato paste, mint, paprika, lemon juice and zest.
  • 3. Add ground meat and brown over high heat until no longer pink. Season and let cool slightly.
  • 4. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).
  • 5. Detach cabbage leaves delicately. Stuff the smaller ones with 30 ml (2 tbsp) of rice stuffing, placed at the larger end, then rolled while folding the sides.
  • 6. In a large ovenproof dish oiled and lined with the larger cabbage leaves, fit in cabbage rolls. Cover with bacon, pour over tomato juice and sprinkle with sugar. Cover and cook in oven 2-3 hours.
  • 7. Serve with mashed potato, a winning combo!

2 Responses to Old-fashioned cabbage rolls

  1. Charlotte aux fraises 13 Nov 2011 at 9:08 pm #

    Tu as tellement raison. Les recettes de nos mamans sont les meilleures. Je ne vais pas manquer de noter les siennes et celles de ma grand-mère durant mes 3 semaines de vacances à Noël.
    PS : Oui, je te déteste pour la gracieuseté. Non mais tu n’as pas honte ? :-))))

    Reply
    • Lynne 14 Nov 2011 at 10:20 am #

      La honte, ça ne me connaît pas trop 🙂 En fait, je me demande ce qu’attendent Les Éditions La Presse, Trécarré, Flammarion et cie pour se réveiller et travailler avec les médias sociaux à la diffusion de leurs livres, ça prend juste une copie de presse. Surtout quand il s’agit d’un blogue comme celui-ci qui fait la promotion et la défense des livres de cuisine québécois…. Cela dit, très sage de ta part de revenir avec les recettes de mère-grand 🙂

      Reply

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