Assembly
- To assemble your stuffed cabbage rolls, you will need to trim the leaves a little bit. To do this, begin by
- Cutting off the tough stem
- Then run your knife along the stem to make it thin and pliable
- ***If you don’t trim the stem you won’t be able to roll the cabbage and you will end up with cabbage and meatball soup, which will probably taste amazing anyways.
- Take the meat mixture out of the fridge and divide it into even portions. If you have 10 nice cabbage leaves, you should make 10 portions of meat mixture
- Take a leaf and lay it down so that the leaf curls towards you (not wrong side out)
- Take a portion of meat and lay it in the leaf closest to the stem
- Shape the meat into a long loaf. This will make it easy to roll
- Now roll the leaf over once, tuck in the sides, and roll it over a second time
- Be sure not to roll these too tight or they will pop during cooking!
- Now that you have your rolls assembled, it’s time to get them in the dutch oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Line the bottom of the dutch oven with a few failed cabbage leaves
- Sprinkle on half of the onion slices
- Spoon half the crushed tomatoes over the top and season with salt and pepper
- Layer half of the rolls (Usually 5-6 can fit nicely) and top them with the other half of the sliced onions and crushed tomatoes
- Season again with salt and pepper
- Now pour in the beef stock plus a little water if needed in order to JUST submerge the cabbage rolls. You will notice that they will float. Kind of annoying, but there is no avoiding this which is why we check these babies in 1 hour.
- Cover with a tight lid and put in the oven for 1 hour
- Once the timer goes off, take the pot out and check the rolls. You’ll notice they have floated to the top! Pour in a bit more stock or water to submerge them again and cook for another hour. If you can’t submerge them the second time, very gently rotate the rolls at the top to ensure that they don’t dry out. You want to make sure the rice gets cooked too.
- They’re finished! I know it took 2 hours but believe me, it was worth it!
- Gently plate a few stuffed cabbage rolls and spoon over some broth. Enjoy!
Source: Holistic Health Herbalist
