The first recipe in 2020 is "Cabbage Rolls". If you read "Chapter 5 "Stuffed Mushrooms" I previewed the recipe by referring to the dish as "porcupine in a bush". So now that you have waited with bated breath I can tell you why I have nicknamed this recipe after a rodent hiding in shrubbery. When my aunts and I made plans to schedule this adventure, we noticed an uncanny resemblance to our first dish, the "Porcupines" which was a mixture of ground meat and rice, with tomato soup. Oddly enough, the family recipe for Cabbage Rolls, or Gołąbki, calls for, ground meat (hamburger), rice, onion and the optional "can of tomato soup" to pour over the rolls. When I read that I stated the obvious, "this isn't a new recipe, its porcupines in a bush!" Needless to say it brought about lots of chuckles and a new endearing nickname for this dish!
Now, to be honest, all three of us felt that we had already experienced the delight of a porcupine so we decided we needed to zhuzh up the cabbage roll recipe to make it a sassy as we three! I received an email from my aunt politely asking if "it would be okay" to add some spices to the recipe, so she sent some suggestions, while filling me in on some memories she recalls of her grandmother (my 2x great grandmother) making cabbage rolls. She also consulted her my other great-aunt (her sister) in trying to remember the difference between their grandmother's dish and the way their mom made the dish. Traditionally one thinks of "grandma's way" to be traditional ingredients made from scratch, whereas their mom, my great-grandmother, lived "during a time of food transition." My great-grandma lived on a ranch with four kids, helped with chores, and as the times changed, so did the food. We feel that to cut down on time Campbell's soup became a good substitute for a slow cooked sauce and was convenience alternative for a hard working woman!
Additionally, both she and her sister remember their Grandma boiling the cabbage rolls before baking them in the oven, before the tomato sauce was even added. I was reminded that I received a cherished gift from my cousin for my bridal shower "Polish Classic Recipes" by Laura and Peter Zeranski and my aunt suggested I look there to see a) if the book contained cabbage
rolls, and b) how that recipe differs than our basic family recipe. I became reignited with energy and found the "Cabbage Rolls" recipe in the book. There were some variations, as one would imagine. I really loved finding this gem in the cook book because it also provided a small nibble of history. Polish legend says that King Kazimierz IV fed this dish to his army before the Thirteen Years War to give strength to the army. (I must add I got goosebumps reading this as I visited the Wawel castle in Poland a few years ago where King Kazimierz IV and his wife are entombed so it is a full circle for me). 
As you have come to find through this blog and our arduous cooking adventures, we are a spirited group of women, so if it was good enough for an army, it is good enough for us to take head on and slay our own kitchen dragon - bland food! Our mission was clear - to make the sauce a little more "home-style" and add in some tweaks and traditional Polish spices to add extra flavor for this iconic dish. GidgetRoots - Episode 7 - "Cabbage Rolls" or "Gołąbki" or "Sassy Porcupines in a Bush"
The first step to any good recipe that calls for a sauce is, in fact, the sauce. I was tasked with the sauce and I did take a short cut by using Pomi Strained Tomatoes instead of making the sauce from scratch. NOTE: If tomatoes were in season you bet your tail I would take that challenge head on to make sauce from seasonal tomatoes, but it is freezing outside and not a vine fresh in season tomato to be seen! DON'T JUDGE! ☺ First step was to get everything set for making the sauce. I finely diced a schmedium onion and three garlic cloves. (Okay - please note, I didn't listen to my ancestors with this one because I felt in my soul there wasn't enough garlic but I knew there would be more in the meat mixture so I erred on the side of caution; Lesson learned - ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR ANCESTORS! ADD MORE GARLIC!
To a pot on the stove set to medium / medium high heat I added 1 Tbs of olive oil and 1 Tbs unsalted butter. Kitchen tip - I like using unsalted butter so that i can control the amount of salt and seasoning in a dish. Once the butter was melted I added the chopped onion, a pinch of salt and dash of black pepper, and let the onions cook down about 3 - 5 minutes until they just start to soften. Then I added the garlic. The measly 3 cloves rather than my instinctual 5-6 cloves. *insert audible sigh* Continue cooking until the onion was almost translucent then I added one 28oz box of stewed tomatoes, stirring together.
Here comes the zhuzh. I added about 3 Tbs dried parsley ( I wish I would have remembered to get fresh parsley at the store, but alas - I work with what I got and add extra love!), 1/4 - 1/2 tsp marjoram, and salt and pepper, to taste. Then I also added 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce and 2 tsp lemon juice, a pinch more salt, stirred together to combine, and let simmer for a couple minutes. My family is loud and by this time my ancestors were giving me a hard time so I had to add a dash ( okay generous sprinkling) of garlic powder since I wasn't listening earlier (hey seriously, THEY made me do it!) I then let that stew and simmer for about 20 minutes before cooling and jarring to take to my aunt's house for the final battle.
One thing I have learned through this process and throughout my growing love of learning about food is that there is always a trick to learn or a new method to develop. My aunt had told me she had stopped making cabbage rolls because she always found it difficult to work the cabbage leaves with them being so stiff. (Figures - something commonplace in Polish / Irish culture is stubborn - who would have guessed!?) Through talking with her family and I using the inter-web resource, we learned that by par-boiling the cabbage you can soften the leaves making it easier to peel away from the cabbage head. I also saw that by removing the "core" of the cabbage the leaves peel easier because they are not being held together by anything.
Let the cabbage simmer / low boil for about 5 - 7 minutes and check. Remember you don't want to cook the whole head through, you just want the outer leaves to begin to soften. Then, CAREFULLY remove the cabbage from the water and place on a dish or plate. (I was a smart kid and had my aunt do this step - I mean, if you can't be trusted to add enough garlic how can one be trusted to remove something from hot boiling water safely!?)
Once removed, carefully peel away the cabbage leaves one by one. I found it easiest to find the edge of the leaf and slowly roll back until it pulled away. Once removed, we set the leaves on a kitchen towel to soak up the extra water. It is important to remember to keep the water on the stove at a simmer / low boil. As you work your way through, the cabbage leaves will begin to become more firm, simply because they didn't get to soak as much in the hot tub of H20. If you find the leaves beginning to be difficult again, simply bribe them with longer soak time in the hot tub and they will bend to your will.
Next obstacle - to cook or not to cook - that is the question we found ourselves asking for this recipe. Our wise supervisor said she felt the end result would taste different if we pre-cooked the filling rather than letting the flavors marry together in the baking dish. Our family recipe says to mix the ground meat and the UNCOOKED rice together and use that for the filling; other recipes we consulted had pre-cooked both the meat and the rice separately before mixing together for the filling. I had already disappointed my predecessors once by not adding enough garlic to the sauce, so we decided to listen to our ancestors and not pre-cook the filling. This was the right decision.
One more step that I learned from the endless informative interweb was to remove a little of the thick "spine" of the cabbage leaves in order to allow the leaf to bend more easily when rolling.
This trick was absolutely crucial advantage to making this dish. The porcupines are ready to be tucked into the bush, so lay out the leaf and "let's get rolling!" (I hope Tyler Florence doesn't mind me borrowing this catch phrase). You will find recipes say "add 1 Tbs" or "place about 1/8 cup" of the mixture / filling in the center of the leaf... well we all know that not all leaves are created equal. Some take after their father and are large and in charge while others are petite and perfect, like me - I digress. We found it difficult to combat this part of the mission with a "one size fits all" mindset, guess what we did? WE LISTENED TO OUR ANCESTORS! We placed the filling at the stem end of the leaf and added just enough of the filling to allow for approximately 1/2 inch of cabbage on either side.
Then we gently rolled about half way, folded in the sides, then finished rolling. I found it interesting that the leaf ended up practically sealing itself. I suppose the porcupine was happy with its tuck and wanted to be left alone to hibernate in a bath of broth. (Also find it interesting that "Golbaki comes from the word "golab" meaning "pigeon" that refers to the roll's shape - whoever named this clearly hadn't seen a Jezozwierz).
As the rolls are made, place them in a baking dish - the size will vary depending on how many rolls you plan to make. We had approximately 1 lb of meat mixed with 1/4 cup of uncooked rice, a medium diced onion, and some chopped garlic mixed together which made about 11 - 12 rolls with size variation. In the end you will want to have all the rolls in a baking dish small enough that the cabbage rolls are tightly packed. I swear I must be a little crazy because while we were making these and placing them in the baking dish, I thought of the children's song "They all rolled over and one fell off there were three in the bed and the little one said "roll over, roll over," so they all rolled over and one fell off...." THIS IS NOT SPARTA! No one should roll off,
or left behind! Get them nice and cozy to enjoy their day at the spa!
Once you have filled the baking dish with the cabbage rolls, we poured in about 1 cup of broth. Our tactic for this was a matter of strategy - broth is more flavorful than water. We chose to use a combination of elk and pork so to mimic those flavors went with a duo of 1/2 cup beef broth and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. You do not want to completely cover the rolls (I mean the porcupines are already in a blanket people, you don't need the extra comforter!) Place in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes your rolls have steamed in the broth bath and are ready to be sassy with some sauce!
Pour the tomato sauce that has already been prepared over the rolls. This again is a "listen to your ancestors moment" and we went whole porcupine and covered all those cuties up with the sauce, spreading evenly over all the rolls. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake - we baked for 50 minutes to an hour.
When are they done? Again, as time went on variations of this dish emerged. Clearly if the filling has been pre-cooked it won't need to be baked as long because you will only need to heat through. We used a thermometer to test the temperature of the filling and once we felt the meat was cooked through we knew it was time to enjoy or victory dinner.
Our cabbage rolls turned out incredibly delicious and we served along side a salad of romaine, carrot, cucumber, avocado, and tomato. We were happy that our version of our family recipe was a success with added our added sass I tribute to our Polish heritage. I will post both versions, our version and the original family recipe below.
This adventure reminded me how important family time is. Seek out your passions in life and share with loved ones - that is the true way to an enriched life full of love and happiness. Until next time, znajdź swoje szczęśliwe miejsce i nigdy nie dorosnij! 💖
NEXT EPISODE / CHAPTER: Pasty - the one where that really calls for feeding an army
I was told the next recipe for "Pasty" is delicious just the way it is and we most likely will not be adding our own flair to this traditional family recipe - except for downsizing Stay tuned and stay happy!
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Our Version of this classic:
CABBAGE ROLLS - GOŁĄBKI
You will need:
1 head of green cabbage
1 c. broth (low sodium vegetable, chicken, or beef, your preference)
For the filling:
1/2 lb of ground beef or ground elk
1/2 lb of ground pork
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
Mix together all ingredients and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
For the Sauce:
1 - 24 oz box of Pomi stewed tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic - minced (LIES REALLY LIKE 5-7)
1 medium onion - diced
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs unsalted butter
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 - 1/2 tsp marjoram
3 Tbs dried parsley
Optional: crushed red pepper to liking
On medium to medium high heat melt the butter in the olive oil, once melted add onion and sweat for 2-3 minutes before adding garlic. Cook together until fragrant and onion is translucent. Add box stewed tomatoes and seasoning (TO TASTE) and simmer for 20 minutes before removing from heat to cool.
Bring a large pot of water to a low boil or simmer. While water is coming to a boil, prepare your head of cabbage. Remove the core from the cabbage. Also remove any outer leaves that are damaged or are no good. Once the core and bad leaves are removed, place cabbage in hot water and let boil for 5 - 7 minutes until outer leaves are softened, but not completely tender. Remove from water and carefully peel back each leaf until you have the desired amount of cabbage leaves for the rolls. If you find the cabbage becoming firmer the further in you go, place back in the simmering / low boiling water until leaves are softened again and repeat process.
Prepare a baking dish small enough to snugly fit each roll by lightly greasing with butter. Prepare the cabbage leaves to roll by removing a sliver of the thickest part of the "spine" to ease the rolling process. Place the meat mixture onto the base of the leaf (perpendicular to the stem) leaving about 1/2 inch clearance on each end, and about an inch in thickness. Carefully and tightly roll the leaf away from you, tucking the ends in half way before finishing rolling. Place each roll into the prepared baking dish until the baking dish is filled. Repeat process until the mixture is gone and the baking dish has been filled. Add 1 cup of broth or until the broth comes about 1/2 way up the rolls. Carefully place the baking dish into a pre-heated 450 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the rolls with the prepared sauce. Lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and serve hot. Twoje zdrowie
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ORIGINAL FAMILY RECIPE:
CABBAGE ROLLS
You will need:
1 large head of cabbage
Filling for rolls:
1 to 2 lbs of hamburger (depending on how many rolls you want to make)
1 medium onion diced
About 1/4 cup of uncooked rice
salt and pepper to taste
Mix the hamburger, onion, rice and seasoning, set aside
Peel the outer leaves off the cabbage if they are dry.
Put the head of cabbage in a pot of hot water. Let set until the leaves are soft. One at a time, peel the leaves off the head of cabbage. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of the leaf, fold the sides over then bring up the ends. You may need to put a toothpick in the end so the end will stay closed.
Put the rolls in a fairly large kettle, layer them if you are making very many. Put about an inch or so of water in the kettle, cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 30 to 40 minutes until the leaves are tender and the rice is done.
If you like, you could also pour a can of tomato soup over the top of the rolls before putting them onto cook. You may need to add more water so they don't cook dry.
If you are just making a few rolls, you can peel off how many leaves you want and just put the leaves in hot water to soften instead of the whole head [of cabbage].
