HOW TO MAKE THE BEST STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Good grief...the perfect Polish Golabki with homemade from scratch sauce...lip smacking delicious!

No summer cookout is complete without a tray of stuffed cabbages! Tender cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, seasoned ground meats and a rich tomato sauce make this the perfect summer comfort food. Plus these freeze beautifully!

This dish, God this dish brings back so many childhood memories that I literally sat here for 30 minutes in a daze just remembering some of them. Like there was the time we were harvesting cabbages from our garden and we each got to pick a single plant that we were in charge of to take care of. Whoever grew the biggest cabbage won. The prize was Mom would cook our favorite dessert to go with her famous stuffed cabbages. That summer I ended up winning. This cabbage was so huge that I couldn’t lift it. I know I have a picture of me trying to hold it on my lap. I’ll dig it out to share the pic once my arm is better.

Then there are the countless memories where our kitchen was soooooooooooooo hot (we didn’t have AC growing up and we only had window fans) and Mom had 3 large canning pots on the stove with boiling water making hundreds of stuffed cabbages. I can still remember that hot cabbage smell and hot/wet air in the kitchen. Dad would use the tongs to pull out the leaves, put them in the colander and my Mom, sister and I would each trim the stems.

Bringing some of my family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦recipes to the healthy 🍎 side!! I had a meal prep day with @kitkatkro.fit 💪🏻 on Saturday and I showed her how to make Polish Golumpki 🥩(stuffed cabbage rolls)!! 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper divided
• 1 large head green cabbage
• 2 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup cooked white rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion divided
• 2 28- ounce cans crushed tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup grated apple

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the 1 cup onions to the pot and cook until softened, approximately 8 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, apple, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to the onions stirring to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil then turn the heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes. 
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove the core from the cabbage and place the head in the boiling water. Boil the cabbage for approximately 5 minutes or until the leaves come off easily with tongs. Boil for 1-2 more minutes until the leaves are soft and flexible. You will need approximately 12-14 leaves depending on the size. Remove the leaves from the pot and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, remaining onion, eggs, breadcrumbs, rice, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup sauce to the meat mixture. 
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Ladle 1 cup sauce into the bottom of your braising pan or baking dish. 
7. Using a pairing knife, remove the thick triangular rib from the base of the cabbage leaf. Using clean hands, shape 1/3 cup filling mixture into an oval meatball shape and place in the center of the cabbage leaf and begin to roll up to the outer edge folding in the sides as you go.
8. Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in the pan. Cover the rolls with the sauce.
9. Cover the dish with the lid and bake for 1-1.25 hours or until the meat is cooked through.
10. Serve immediately.

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