REAL Cabbage Rolls

So we tried making Moosewood's Stuffed Cabbage, which are fancy-pants rolls stuffed with a sweet ricotta-based filling and no tomatoes or sauce.  They tasted alright, but the problem was that you look at them and think "cabbage roll... mmm.. I want a cabbage roll"... and then they taste nothing like cabbage rolls.  I don't think I'd bother to make them again.

Luckily, we thought our cabbages were a little small, so we bought two - and then only used one, which left one for making some REAL cabbage rolls with.

Here are the cabbage rolls we made tonight (I'll write down this recipe as if we'd made them all homogeneous even though actually the first ones were extra meaty and the last ones were vegetarian... and that was a good way to do it too.  If that's what you want, then separate the filling mix into 2 parts and only add the meat to 1 part).

This looks like a long and complicated process, but it really didn't seem too bad at the time.. especially with a helper to do the cabbage prep while I did the other parts.

Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons white or red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roll Stuff:

• 3 cups cooked brown rice (or use white if you prefer)
• 1-2 eggs (if you do everything in 1 batch, 1 is probably enough, but if you split it into 2 parts then you can just put an egg in each part and keep things simple)
• 1 onion, diced fine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbs tomato paste (next time I'd probably just skip this unless I happened to have some open already - there's plenty of sauce to use instead)
• Splash of red wine if you happen to have it
• 2 tbs chopped parsley
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef (I bet you could replace this with some diced carrots or something if you want vegetarian rolls instead)
• 1 large head cabbage (or 2 smaller ones)

Method:

1. Cook the rice if you haven't already
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3. Prep the cabbage:
• bring a large pot of water to a boil
• remove the core by slicing into the base a bunch of times with a paring knife 
• get ready with a couple of pairs of tongs/some scissors/whatever implements you have on hand
• put the whole head of cabbage in the boiling water
• as it softens, remove the leaves 1 by one and pile them up on a plate - this way the outer leaves are taken off before they get too mushy and the other ones cook longer.
• keep going until the leaves are too small to be useful
 


4. Prep the sauce:

• saute the garlic in the oil for about a minute
• add the crushed tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes
• add vinegar, sugar, and worcestershire sauce
• simmer about 5 minutes
• season with salt and pepper and remove from heat
5. Prep the filling:
• saute oil and garlic in a skillet about 5 minutes, until soft (put in the carrots during this step if you're using them instead of beef)
• stir in the tomato paste and wine if you're using them, 1/2 cup of the sauce (or a little more), and the parsley
• mix to incorporate everything then take it off the heat
• add to this the (raw) beef, the rice, and the egg (remember you might want to divide this before adding the beef!)
• mix the filling together with your hands
6. Roll the rolls!

• put some filling in a leaf and roll it up!
• pack the rolls seam down in an oiled casserole dish
• pour some sauce over top of the rolls
7. Bake them up!
• cover the dish with tinfoil (or extra cabbage leaves?) and pop it in the oven
• bake meaty rolls for an hour or veggie ones for about half an hour

Enjoy!

Whitewater Lemony Lentil Soup

mmm.. this soup is simple but so tasty!  It comes from the fabulous Whitewater Cooks Cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups lentils (they say red ones, but I've done this with red, puy, brown and various combinations thereof)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp red chili flakes (yes, it's got just a little bit of kick)
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tsp fresh dill, chopped (dry is perfectly good too)

Method:

1. Rinse the lentils in a colander and set aside to drain.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large pot; add onions and saute until translucent.
3. Add carrots, garlic, salt, pepper, chili flakes, rosemary, oregano, and bay leaves.
4. Stir well and saute until the carrots are tender.
5. Add the stock and the lentils and bring to a boil. 
6. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the lentils are soft.
7. Meanwhile, mix the crumbled feta and dill in a small bowl and set aside for garnish.
8. Remove the bay leaves. You may puree the soup or leave it as is (I've never pureed it).
9. Add the lemon juice, zest, and salt and pepper to taste.
10.  To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with feta/dill topping.

Gado Gado Goodness

This was a hit at a (mostly) meat-free, dairy-free dinner party last night.  A good assemble-your-own type dish for picky eaters and that could mostly be made ahead of time - leftovers will make great lunches!

The basic recipe came from the Moosewood Cookbook.  Basically Gado Gado is a mixture of fresh and cooked and crunchy things all drenched in peanut sauce and from there you can basically make it whatever you want.  This might look daunting, but it was really quite easy indeed and could be simplified or complexified as much as you want.

Here's how you make THE SAUCE:

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 (or more) medium cloves minced garlic
• 1-2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 bay leaf

--> Cook the above in some butter or oil until the onions are translucent then add all the rest:

• 1 cup "good, pure" peanut butter (a great use for that massive jar of peanut butter)
• 1 tbs honey
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• dash of tamari / soya sauce
• 3 cups water (yes I know it seems like way too much but just go with it)
• 1/2-1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like - I used about this and there was a very very mild bit of spice... I'll probably make it a 1/2 tsp next time)

--> Don't worry if the peanut butter's just in a big glob at first - give it a little time and a whisk and it'll mix in.  Simmer this mix on very low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Now for THE REST OF IT.  I put the following ingredients on the table, but you could definitely mix this part of it up and put whatever you want under the sauce.  The Moosewood says that you should make an "artful arrangement of cooked and raw vegetables".  I challenged our dinner guests to make their own artful arrangements on their plates - some took this to heart, and others just piled up the food.

• raw spinach
• cooked rice (this is not in the original recipe but it was much appreciated in the meal)
• fresh bean sprouts
• steamed broccoli
• steamed carrots (you could do raw grated or juliened carrots instead but I didn't have much carrot)
• apple slices
• crispy fried tofu chunks (see below)
• cooked chicken (this was provided for the tofu haters at the table)

And some garnishes:

• fresh mint leaves (my addition - I think some basil would have been really good too)
• toasted sunflower seeds
• roasted peanuts
• lemon wedges (for juice)

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Moosewood also suggests the following which I either didn't have, didn't want, or completely forgot about:

• a drizzle of sesame oil
• raisins
• oranges
• shredded cabbage
• steamed green beans
• pieces of hard boiled egg

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THE TOFU

I basically did a variant on http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Gluten-Free-Tofu-Nuggets-1423597?columns=4&position=6%2F43

• Cut the block of tofu in half on the plane with the biggest surface area so that you can squish out a bunch of water.  Squish it with some paper towels if you happen to have them so it dries out a bit. 
• Cut the tofu into little cubes, about 1/2" big
• Marinate the tofu in some soya sauce (or get fancier if you want)
• Meanwhile, prepare a coating with the following ingredients (or something like it):

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• a largish 1/8 cup sesame seeds
• maybe a little flour? (I didn't use any myself and it was still fine)
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• I also threw in some marjoram since it was the closest thing I happened to have to parsley flakes, which I would have used instead

• I didn't have any of the other ingredients in the yummly recipe so I just skipped them but you could add things like celery seed, onion powder, etc if you have them.
• Toss the marinated tofu in the coating and fry the chunks in a frying pan with oil (or bake them in the oven if your stove top is taken up with the other stuff.