Stuffed Cabbage

Total Time: 3 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr 30 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked rice, rinsed,soaked in cold water for 1 hour,and drained
• 1 large green cabbage (about 3 lb) or 2 small green cabbage
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 2 -3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules
• 8 ounces lean ground beef
• 8 ounces ground lean lamb
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves or 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 2 stalks celery & leaves, finely diced
• coarse salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 (8 -12 ounce) cans tomato sauce, depending on how saucy you want your cabbage rolls
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed,to taste
• 2 -4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, more to taste
• 1/2 cup sour cream, plus more for garnish (optional)

Recipe

• 1 soak rice while preparing the cabbage and the rest of the filling.
• 2 using a paring knife, cut out the center core of cabbage.
• 3 bring water to a boil in a pot large enough to easily hold cabbage head.
• 4 add cabbage, and cook for 2-3 minutes or until outer leaves are tender but still bright green.
• 5 lift cabbage from water, and remove outer leaves.
• 6 return cabbage to boiling water, and repeat brief cooking and removal of leaves until all large outer leaves are removed and nothing but the core remains.
• 7 reserve 1 cup cabbage cooking water.
• 8 trim thick center vein from bottom of each leaf until thin enough to roll.
• 9 finely chop about 1 cup of cabbage core for the filling, and coarsely chop and reserve the remainder of the cabbage core.
• 10 in a medium skillet, melt butter or olive oil over medium heat.
• 11 crumble ground beef and lamb into skillet, and cook until beginning to brown.
• 12 add onion and garlic, and cook until golden and tender, about 5 more minutes.
• 13 transfer to a large bowl, and add drained rice, finely chopped cabbage, parsley, green pepper, and celery, and stir to combine.
• 14 season generously to taste with salt and pepper.
• 15 add about 1/3 cup of filling to a cabbage leaf.
• 16 fold base, then sides of cabbage over filling, and roll up leaf, starting with the stem end.
• 17 repeat with remaining leaves and filling.
• 18 line the bottom of a 5-6 quart dutch oven or large casserole with coarsely chopped cabbage core, and place cabbage rolls on top, packing tightly.
• 19 if any large gaps remain between rolls, fill with remaining chopped cabbage.
• 20 in a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce and the reserved 1 cup of cooking water from cabbage, brown sugar, and lemon juice.
• 21 bring to a simmer, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• 22 pour some of the tomato sauce over stuffed cabbage to just cover them.
• 23 bring to a gentle simmer, adding additional tomato sauce as needed, cover, and simmer for 1 hour or until cabbage rolls are very tender.
• 24 if desired, place sour cream in a small bowl, and ladle in about 3/4 cup of tomato sauce from the cooked stuffed cabbage rolls.
• 25 whisk to combine, return sour cream mixture to dutch oven, and stir to combine.
• 26 serve with additional sour cream if desired.