Pork Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

We've all heard about the benefits of eating those leafy green vegetables. According to the veggie guru's  "The health benefits of cabbage include treatment of constipation, stomach ulcers, headache, excess weight, skin disorders, eczema, jaundice, scurvy, rheumatism,arthritis, gout, eye disorders, heart diseases, aging, and Alzheimer's disease." Since most of us can identify with a couple of things on the list, excluding scurvy in our case since we live in citrusville, I figured the big guy and I should get our cabbage fix more often.

I have to admit, if it comes in the form of these cabbage rolls it's doubtful there will be any complaints coming from this neck of the woods ...uh cactus. From Elise at Simply Recipes, this recipe takes a little preparation time, but if you plan ahead you'll be sitting down to a fabulous meal in just over an hour. I honestly changed not one thing except to up the garlic quotient and I cooked em' in 315 degree oven instead of on top of the stove, so in the interest of following the proper etiquette I won't reproduce her recipe here. Just click on the link above and it'll take you right to it.
 

If you read through the recipe in advance to plan your moves, you can have the rice cooked the night before and the cabbage prepped before you leave for work which really cuts the prep time a ton. By the way, I've heard some people freeze the cabbage whole, to make the leaves limp instead of par-boiling it. I've never tried that, but I'm just sayin' - A lady at the check out stand at Fry's Supermarket was telling me that's what she does.

Back to the prep - then stuff 'em when you get home and before you know it dinner's in the oven and you're watching the news while enjoying a glass of wine. Sounds easy, eh?  I suppose you'd like to know what makes this recipe different from the b'zillion others out there for cabbage rolls? Well other than the previously mentioned pork rather than beef and because the rice goes into the rolls already cooked, they are cooked and ready to eat in just an hour rather than 2. The end result is moist flavorful cabbage that's not cooked to within an inch of it's life, with a stuffing where the meat is king and the rice is just a lowly peon. Oh and then there's the sauce. When the rolls are finished cooking, they're removed to a platter and the sauerkraut that's in the bottom of the pot collecting all those nummy cooking juices gets enriched further with a cup of sour cream. Ooh, momma - they'z so GOOD!

The big guy loved them so much he had an extra serving ...a BIG extra serving and said they were the best! He wasn't a cabbage roll fan before but he sure is now. Yippee - add another check mark on the list. Now if there's just something I could do to change his mind about peas. Nahhh!

Comments

[Nanan]

Cabbage rolls - interesting - not so big in Cajun nor Colombian cooking... you eat them for us! hehehehehehe

[June]

Lea - you are too funny. Ya, I thought of you while I was making them as they have tomatoes so I figured it would be a "no go" for you!

[Mags]

Whenever I make cabbage rolls for hubby he's like putty in my hands. Lotta yard and landscaping work that needs to get done here, so I'm going make these for him so he'll get cracking!!

For the weekend however, we're off to see G-baby for some serious cuddling and kissing. Oh, and it's also Wes' birthday, but he's second fiddle of course...lol

[June]

Ya - funny how much seems to get done when there's food in the oven! Hope you have a super weekend - give that boy a cuddle from JBug ...oh & wish Wes a happy b'day too!