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...in here somewhere, but damned if I can find it. :shrug:
Anyway, the house is fragrant with the smell of baking cabbage rolls right now. I was at the market yesterday and they had ground lamb-- my first thought was "MOUSAKA!" but my common sense kicked in immediately. I mean, I live alone and occasionally I'm willing to spend several hours in the kitchen cooking myself a blockbuster meal, but not that often. Anyone want dinner at my house? PM me if you're in Northern California, bring a bottle of wine, and we'll party, otherwise mousaka is not the sort of dish I typically cook for myself. But ground lamb isn't that common at my local market unless you special request it, so my second thought was stuffed cabbage rolls.
Quantities are very approximate.
Meat filling:
1 lb ground lamb 1 lb lean ground beef 1 cup fresh bread crumbs 1 med Vadalia onion, chopped fine (sigh, only three Vidalias left) 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 cups cooked rice 1 egg 1 tsp salt 1 tsp fresh ground pepper 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
Mix all the filling ingredients well. I divided and froze about 3/4 of it for later.
Core a cabbage and carefully separate the outermost, big leaves-- a few rips and tears are not a problem. I got about half the cabbage leaves off. Small torn pieces can be used to line the pan. Put the cabbage leaves into boiling water for a couple of minutes until they turn bright green, then drain and run cold water over them so you can handle them. Put a few tbsp of the meat mixture into each cabbage leaf and roll like an egg roll (fold the bottom edge up, fold in the sides, then roll up). Lay in a single layer in a covered casserole, on top of a layer of cabbage pieces. I made six rolls. No, I'm NOT going to eat them all tonight!
Sauce:
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and chilis (one of the most useful wonder ingredients on earth, IMO) 1/4 cup tomato ketchup 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar a few tbsp of chicken stock
Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover and bake at 350F for two hours.
It smells marvelous. It won't be ready for another hour or so.
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