Galumpkis (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

I posted this in 2016 but only linked the recipe and didn't share many good pictures, so I'm doing an updated post on how to make stuffed cabbage rolls following Tyler Florence's recipe from Food Network and I took lots of photos this time. We had these for dinner last night with roasted baby potatoes and steamed broccoli, I kinda think the rolls are a stand-alone dish though and don't really need a side - other than filling up more of your plate hahha. It's veggie, meat, and rice all in one. 

I pretty much followed the recipe except for microwaving the whole cabbage for a couple of minutes to help separate the leaves (did you see yesterday's tip how to do that?) so when I blanched the leaves it only took a couple minutes to get them pliable; in fact, I probably wouldn't have even had to blanch them if I microwaved the head for another minute or two - the smaller leaves were almost cooked enough to easily roll (that's the reason for blanching, to make it easier to roll the leaves around the filling). 

Another note is the recipe makes a lot of tomato sauce and I put all of it over top of the stuffed rolls - thankfully I put a cookie sheet underneath the casserole dish for baking because it overflowed big time! Also, the sauce was quite runny after cooking for almost 2 hours - note the recipe says one hour but reviewers said it took longer so I let it go an extra 45 minutes - next time I will only pour enough sauce on the rolls to cover them and serve a bowl of hot tomato sauce on the side. 

GALUMPKIS (STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS)

Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce:

• 2 T. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed 
• 1 1/2 quarts crushed tomatoes (I used 2 big cans)
• 2 T. white wine vinegar
• 1 T. sugar
• salt and pepper

Cabbage rolls (heads up - you make a small second sauce in addition to the above sweet and sour sauce to put in the filling):

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T. tomato paste
• splash dry red wine
• 2 T. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup of the sweet and sour tomato sauce from above
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups steamed white rice
• salt and pepper
• 2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each

~to make the sweet and sour tomato sauce:

In a 3-quart saucepan heat 2 T. olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar; simmer, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. 

~to make the cabbage rolls:

1. Place a small skillet over medium heat and add 2 T. olive oil. Sauce the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in the tomato paste, a splash of wine, parsley, and 1/2 cup of the prepared sweet and sour tomato sauce; mix to incorporate and then take it off the heat.
2. Combine the ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, cooked rice, and the sautéed onion mixture. Toss the filling together with your hands to combine, season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the large, damaged outer leaves from the cages and set aside (don't throw out, you'll use them to line the casserole dish). Cut out the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife and carefully pull off all the rest of the leaves, keeping them whole and as undamaged as possible. You need about 12 leaves total for the rolls, save the small inner leaves for another dish like coleslaw or something. Blanch the leaves in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, or until pliable. Put the leaves in a large bowl of cold water to stop the cooking, then dry them off and lay out for filling. 
4. Carefully cut out the center vein from the leaves so they will be easier to roll up. 
5. Preheat the oven to 350'. 
6. Take the reserved big outer leaves and lay them on the bottom of a 13x9" casserole dish, let part of the leaves hang out the sides of the pan. This insulation will prevent the cabbage rolls from burning on the bottom when baked. Use all the good looking leaves to make the cabbage rolls. 
7. Put about 1/2 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage and starting at what was the stem-end, fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Place the rolls side by side in rows, seam-side down, in the casserole pan.
8. Pour the remaining sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. Fold the hanging leaves over the top to enclose and keep the moisture in. Drizzle the top with a little olive oil. Bake for 1 hour until the meat is cooked. 

makes about 1 dozen

another note from me: the cabbage leaves that line the bottom of the dish were not long enough to fold much over the top before baking, so I laid a few more raw leaves on top to cover the rolls completely. 

Here's photos of most of the steps for your reference:

step 1 from making the cabbage rolls above - the sweet and sour tomato sauce is
the brighter red sauce in the middle in this photo

step 2 - combine cabbage roll ingredients in a large bowl

step 3 - blanch the leaves in hot water until pliable

also step 3 - put the blanched leaves in cold water

add filling to the center of a leaf, fold up the sides and then roll 
up around the filling

yep, I should have known this would boil over! so much sauce...

leaves from the bottom don't quite cover the top

so I added additional leaves to cover 

remove the leaves covering the rolls before serving
 (they taste good though so feel free to eat those in addition to the rolls!)