Stuffed cabbages

Today, I'm taking a page out of my grandmother's cookbook. Seriously, it's page 187, and actually it's just a half a page.

The cookbook was done at the behest of my cousin Mitchell, and is a collection of my grandmother's Ukrainian recipes, as well as others from aunts, cousins and others. There's even one from me, but we'll get to that another day. Anyway, I'm very glad Mitchell had the idea to ask for them to be compiled, because its an awesome book to have.

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to family gatherings, because it meant huge trays of stuffed cabbage, or as we called them, "pigs in a blanket." Depending on where you grew up -- or where your grandmother grew up, more likely -- they might have been called golumpki, holishkes, holipces, toltott kaposzta, praakes or goluptzi. We called them pigs in a blanket. Imagine my utter disappointment when I went to sleep over at a friend's house one night when I was probably 8, and was told we were having pigs in a blanket for dinner ... only to be handed a hot dog wrapped in croissant dough. I never went back to that house.

My grandma, Nastazia Brick, credits this recipe to my great-grandmother, Babi Makitka. Which leads me to wonder how far back it really goes.

(I'm reprinting the quantities here as written in the book, but this makes a ton. So cut the numbers in half. Or plan on freezing some. Or make it for a party. Or go in really, really hungry.)

Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbages

2 lbs ground chuck
1 lb ground pork
3 cups cooked rice
1 tbls salt
1 tbls pepper
2 med onions, chopped fine
1/4 cup ketchup
2 heads of cabbage
2 (15 oz) cans stewed tomatoes, crushed

bring a large pot of water to a boil. remove the cores from the heads of cabbage. submerge the cabbage in the water, pulling off leaves as they cook. drain the cooked leaves. While the cabbage cools, combine the beef, pork, rice, salt, pepper, onion and ketchup in a bowl and mix well.

put any small or broken cabbage leaves in the bottom of a roasting pan. fill the other leaves with the meat mixture, folding the sides in and rolling like a burrito. put each one in the roasting pan with the folded side down and pack them together tight. it's ok to layer them. top with the tomatoes and 2-3 cups of water. take leftover cabbage leaves and cover the rolls so the top ones don't burn. bake in a 350-degree oven for 60-90 minutes.

Sources: recipe, Babi Makitka; photo, Habeas Brulee

Comments

[Shirley J. Buttacavoli]

I love cabbage, but I've never attempted stuffed cabbage. This certainly doesn't sound complicated. Might have to give it a try.

[Therese Johnson]

My grandma (of German descent) also called this recipe Pigs in a Blanket, and it is still a family favorite. We always cook these in a crock pot all day (set on low) and it's ready when we all get home. Shirley's recipe cut in half will fill a large crock pot.

Over the years, I have modified the recipe with delicious results: I never bother cooking the rice, as the liquid added here will accomplish that in the crock pot. I now add chopped green peppers and minced garlic to the meat mixture and use pork sausage (Jimmy Dean's is good) instead of plain pork. As I make the rolls, I add a spoonful of drained sauerkraut inside each. I skip the salt and after filling the crock pot, I pour in about 10 oz. low sodium V-8 juice instead of tomatoes and then pour in beer until rolls are almost covered with liquid. Great served with a dollop of sour cream!