Easy Cabbage Rolls
A delicious home-cooked comfort meal with a fool-proof technique.
A technique on the classic Polish dish takes the once tedious recipe into the future, but also blending unique Italian and Turkish flavors to make one tasty baked cabbage roll. Freezing cabbage is an A-tier shortcut that naturally softens the leaves without having to bust out a huge pot and smell up the house. As the cabbage thaws it breaks down the fibers in the leaves making them pliable and perfect to roll. This simple method saves you time and effort, giving you endless options to stuff inside your roll. Tender cabbage leaves are perfect for stuffing with leftovers or YOUR favorite fillings.
Cabbage rolls have a long history, with roots all over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Traditionally consisting of a cabbage leaf wrapped around a various assortment of fillings and braised in a sauce. Each culture over time has adapted this recipe to local ingredients and cultural preferences which is what I adore about cooking. We adapt. What is affordable? What is my favorite ground meat? What is my signature tomato sauce? These are all questions worth answering when you’re coming up with your own recipe. Remember recipes are just the blueprint to replicating, it’s endless how you can customize them.
Freezing the cabbage is something I learned watching videos about cabbage rolls and it’s just ingenious. There’s no one “correct” way to get a recipe made and this is the very example. BRILLIANT. The leaves peel so easily and take one very time consuming step off the table. Let’s think of fillings!
Overtime for me I have adapted a love for hybrid and fusion flavors growing up in America. Being from a strong Italian household, I love anything braised in tomato sauce. I chose to combine ground turkey, a leaner meat, with a seasoned Italian pork sausage to add a bit of dimension to the filling. I seasoned my tomato sauce with Turkish spices like cumin and cinnamon to resemble a bit of my love for Mediterranean cooking. The blend of Italian and Turkish flavors work great and I hope it inspires you to work a bit of your history and preference into your rolls.
Easy Cabbage Rolls
Allergens: Eggs
Diet: Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage, frozen
- 1 cup cooked white rice
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 14 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz. tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chicken stock
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
Preparation
- Place a head of cabbage in the freezer and completely freeze for 24 hours.
- Remove frozen cabbage from the freezer and let thaw for 2 hours or until the leaves start to peel off easily. You may only be able to peel a few leaves at a time as the center will still be very frozen.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF for 1 hour and prepare a 9x13 casserole dish.
- Start with the sauce, by sautéing the red onion and freshly minced garlic with olive oil over medium-high heat for 6 - 8 minutes.
- Add canned tomatoes, sugar, cumin, cinnamon, and chicken stock then bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool.
- In a bowl, combine the cooked rice, ground turkey, Italian sausage, egg, and breadcrumbs. Thoroughly mix together.
- Assemble your cabbage rolls placing on cabbage leaf flat on the surface. Use a medium ice cream-scoop to portion meat filling into the widest part of the cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the leaf in and use it to spread the meat filling evenly, then roll up your roll. Repeat with remaining.
- Pour half the sauce in the bottom of the prepared 9x13 and layer in the cabbage rolls. Pour the remaining sauce over the top and bake in the oven for 45 - 50 minutes or until the meat is tender.