Mom’s cabbage rolls are a delicious family-style meal everyone can enjoy. Cabbage rolls are also known as “stuffed cabbage.” In this recipe, cabbage is stuffed with a simple but delicious rice and beef mixture, topped with crispy bacon and then oven-baked in saucy tomatoes. Serve the cooked cabbage rolls with sour cream.
It’s mother’s day and in honor of my mom, I thought I’d share one of her delicious comfort food dishes. The smell of cabbage rolls cooking in the oven brings back memories of my childhood. I’m pretty sure I learned my way around a kitchen because of mom. She’s a great mom and grandma. She’s my turkey-hotline at Thanksgiving. And yes, she’s rescued my turkey (and my bacon…) before. She’s very modest about her home cooking, but she needn’t be. I’d like to say thank you mom for teaching me so much and always being there for me.
Making cabbage rolls can feel like allot of work if you make all the components at the same time. To cut down the time in the kitchen, use left-over rice. Also, cook the bacon or ground beef and onion a day before assembly. Small heads of cabbage are easier to work with. The smaller leaves also make smaller cabbage rolls which we always believed to be tastier and require less filling.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Medium to large casserole dish 2 small heads of cabbage, cored 1 ½ cups long grain rice, steamed ¼ lb bacon, cut into pieces and cooked crispy 1 small onion, diced ¼ – ½ lb lean ground beef Salt and pepper 1 can tomato soup 1 can pureed tomatoes
Understanding how to soften the cabbage so it is workable is an important step in forming cabbage rolls. I’ll focus more on that here in the blog post rather than on other steps in the recipe such as making the rice, frying the bacon and beef etc. The picture below is of cabbage that has been steamed in a pot with a small amount of boiling water. You start by cleaning and coring the head of cabbage. Fill a large pot with some water. The water should be about 1 – 2 inches deep. Place the cabbage in the pot core-side down, cover and steam for several minutes. The cabbage leaves will begin to loosen. Use tongs to carefully remove the cabbage leaves one at a time and set on a tray to cool and drain. Continue this process of steaming and removing the leaves until it is finished. The outer leaves of the cabbage should easily lift off the head of cabbage as it steams.
Mom always topped her cabbage rolls with a can of tomato soup and some crushed tomatoes. If you are gluten free, you can omit the Campbell’s tomato soup or use a gluten free brand. I’ve also used a plain marinara sauce (about a cup) as a replacement. It just depends on if you like tomatoes and cabbage rolls a bit “saucy” or not.
Next, we’ll form the cabbage rolls. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Use a medium to large sized casserole dish. Line the dish with some of the larger cabbage leaves. Cabbage leaves that have torn are good for this. This helps protect the cabbage rolls as they are cooking from sticking and burning.
Forming the cabbage roll: To assemble, hold a cabbage leaf in your palm. Spoon some of the cooled rice and beef mixture into the leaf.
Roll the cabbage leaf up around the filling towards the center and tuck in the ends. It becomes a neat little package. This takes a little patience and practice. You’ll get it!
Repeat this process. One at a time, place them into the casserole dish. It’s ok if you have a few on top of one another. They’ll all get “tucked in.”
Next, you’ll sprinkle the cabbage rolls with the cooked bacon (optional). Evenly distribute and cover the cabbage rolls with the tomato soup (or marinara sauce) and the pureed tomatoes. Season them all over with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover the edges of the rolls with any additional large pieces of cabbage you may have. It should look like this prior to going into the oven.
At this point, I loosely cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake it in the oven for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Serve hot with fresh sour cream on the side. The sour cream is a must! Cabbage rolls also make terrific left-overs.
Mom’s cabbage rolls
Cabbage is stuffed with a simple but delicious rice and beef mixture, topped with crispy bacon and then oven-baked in saucy tomatoes. A delicious family meal everyone can enjoy.
2 small heads cabbage (cored)
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice (steamed)
1/4 lb bacon (cooked crispy)
1 small onion (diced)
1/4 to 1/2 lb ground beef
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 can campbell’s tomato soup or 1 cup plain marinara sauce
1 can pureed tomatoes
Clean and core the cabbage. Steam the rice and set it aside to cool.
Fry the bacon pieces until they are crispy. Drain the bacon on a paper-towel reserving the grease in the pan and set aside.
Cook the onion in the rendered bacon fat until somewhat translucent. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper to taste. Once the ground beef has cooked, turn off the heat and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, combine the rice with the ground beef mixture.
Fill a large pot with some water. The water should be about 1 – 2 inches deep. Place the cabbage in the pot core-side down, cover and steam for several minutes. The cabbage leaves will begin to loosen. Using tongs carefully remove the cabbage leaves one at a time and set on a tray to cool and drain. Continue this process of steaming and removing the leaves until it is finished.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Use a medium to large sized casserole dish. Line the dish with some of the larger cabbage leaves. Ones that have torn are good for this. This helps protect the cabbage rolls as they are cooking from sticking and burning.
To assemble, hold a cabbage leaf in your palm. Spoon some of the cooled rice and beef mixture into the leaf. Roll the cabbage leaf up around the filling and tuck in the ends so it is a neat little package. One at a time, place them into the casserole dish. It’s ok if you have a few on top of one another.
Sprinkle the cabbage rolls with the cooked bacon. Evenly distribute and cover the rolls with the tomato soup and the pureed tomatoes. Season them with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cover the edges of the rolls with any additional large pieces of cabbage you may have. Loosely cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Serve hot with fresh sour cream on the side.
Source: northwestspoon.com
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