Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

As an alternative to standards like lasagna or tortilla wrapped meals, we recently decided to give cabbage rolls a try. These still have all the fillings that make a hearty meal - meat, rice, sauce - but are wrapped up in in a vegetable pouch instead for a change in texture and flavor. Here we're starting off with a whole head of cabbage.

To make rolls, start by pulling off each individual layer of the cabbage - one layer per roll, so you'll probably want 12 - 15 pieces.

The cabbage is boiled for a few minutes in water so they become tender and pliable, just like cooking pasta.

Once boiled these have a much better texture to work with for turning them into rolls. They do tear, but not nearly as easily as you'd think, so you don't have to be too gentle with them.

For the filing we're using ground pork, along with some leftover potsticker filling from a previous meal.

First we mix together the pork, potsticker filling, and diced white onion. If you don't happen to have leftovers from a previous meal on hand, be sure to also throw in some extra vegetables like diced bell peppers.

Along with the meat and vegetables, throw in any of the standard fillings you'd use for meat in a lasagna or pasta bake - basil, oregano, salt, pepper, etc.

Then we toss in some ketchup and tomato paste and continue mixing.

While everything else was coming together we prepared some white rice in our rice cooker. Spoon the cooked rice into the meat mixture.

Here's the finished filling, rice and all:

Place a large spoonful of the filling into the bottom of a piece of cooked cabbage.

Working from the filled side, roll the cabbage piece repeatedly until the filling is completely wrapped up.

Set down a layer of tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven safe dish and line up each roll.

Stuff your baking dish as full as you can if you made enough filling and wraps - they don't need to be separated out from each other.

Finish off with a tomato sauce topping - to make it more flavorful we used a Fire Roasted Tomato Meal Starter instead of just plain tomato sauce.

Pop 'em in the oven for about 45 minutes until the filling is piping hot. Pull a few out and arrange them on the a plate.

Top with some Parmesan and dig in! Because of how much is going on with the wrappers and filling we didn't do a side, but of course a salad or some steamed vegetables would be great choices. You could also try different filling and topping combinations - like ground chicken and jalapenos, a cream sauce, or topping with cheese before baking.