We've absolutely loved our new CSA. We've gotten really nice produce this year. Two weeks running I got what I assumed to be a few collard green leaves. I confess I've never seen them in their fresh form so off to the internet I went. I'd had the caramelized cabbage rolls from Heartland on the make now list for a couple of weeks. Wonder if I could substitute collard greens for cabbage? What's the worst that could happen? You got it. I substituted. And, yes, it worked. Not perfectly, but it worked.
Now, the filling for these called for cooking the rice in milk. I'm not a milk fan. Buttermilk? Maybe. Drink a glass of milk? Not on your life. Needless to say, I was a bit leery of the whole idea. But, I figured I like custards and puddings and rice pudding. Couldn't be all that different. End result? I don't think I'll ever again make cabbage rolls without cooking the rice in milk. Explaining the difference is difficult but the best I can do is say the rice was creamier.
The filling was half pork and half ground beef. That's different from Mom's recipe too. And, I loved it. So did Connie. I was worried about overcooking the collard green leaves so didn't leave them in the full 20 minutes the recipe specified. My bad. They were a bit chewy. Now, the other big difference? The sauce. It called for Rosy Rhubarb sauce or Lingonberry sauce. And, beef broth. Very different from the tomato sauce I grew up on. This was wonderful. A little sweet. A lot of flavor. Other than a bit of fussing the last 15 minutes of cooking time, this is a tremendous recipe for fixing ahead and not having to mess with.
Caramelized Cabbage Rolls
Ingredients:
1 medium head green cabbage
3/4 c plus 1/3 c milk
1/4 c Arborio rice
4 oz ground beef
4 oz ground pork
1 large egg, beaten
1 medium onion, minced
1/3 c milk
2 T rosy rhubarb syrup or bottled lingonberry syrup
3 T unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c beef broth
Directions:
Core the cabbage. Put the cabbage into a pot of boiling water. Turn the heat down and simmer the cabbage for 20 minutes, until it's very soft. While that's cooking, pour the milk into a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the rice, lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer it for 20 minutes.
Remove the cabbage from the pan and drain it in a colander. Allow it to cool while you prep the stuffing. To make the stuffing, mix the ground beef and pork
with the cooked rice, egg 1/3 c milk and onion. Now, prepare the cabbage for stuffing. Separate and dry the leaves. Cut away any of the thick stem to make rolling them easier. Heat your oven to 425. Lay a leaf out on a cutting board and put 1/2 T of filling on it. the amount of filling will depend on the size of the leaf. Roll the leaf up and put it in a greased 9x13 baking dish, seam-side down.
Drizzle the rolls with the rosy rhubarb or lingonberry syrup and the melted butter. Bake for 20 minutes, then pour the beef broth over the rolls. Cook for another 15-20 minutes. Baste every 5 minutes with the broth mixture. The rolls will be browned and caramelized.
adapted from Heartland
Do you have dishes that not only taste wonderful but remind you of wonderful memories of family, friends, places or times? Me too. I can't make Chicken Caesar Lasagna without thinking about my stepkids. It's the first dish all three of them request. Chicken Green Bean Casserole reminds me of my mom's wonderful friend, Lou. I could go on and on. I suppose that's the difference between those of us who live to eat and those who eat to live. I love different flavor combinations as well as the old, familiar ones. And, I love the memories different foods bring. This dish is a case in point. I first made it about a year ago. Two dear friends had gotten married and we were going on their honeymoon with them. I know, that sounds really exciting. It was, just not quite what you'd expect. They got married in their backyard on Thursday evening and Saturday evening the four of us were heading downtown to an Indianapolis Indians game, aka their honeymoon :-)
They arrived a bit early as we were sitting down to enjoy dinner. I offered the other half of the casserole but they had their hearts set on stadium food. They did, however, consent to take the other half home for the next evening. That was the first time I made this. Tonight was either the third or the fourth. Whatever it was, this remains one of my favorite dishes. I think Connie told me four times while he was inhaling his how wonderful he thinks this is. Yes, indeed, it is. Pretty darned simple and oh, so very good.
Why, am I reposting the recipe? Well, I'm not totally. It's just that last time I forgot to take photos of the finished dish. And, I have a LOT more readers than I did a year ago. So, for those of you who find this repetition, I apologize. For those of you who are new readers, please enjoy. Next time I make this I may try some variations. Polish sausage instead of the bacon. Mix some brussels sprouts into the cabbage. Here's where you go to find the original recipe: Potato Torte .
For the first five plus years I knew Connie, I yammered on about the wonderful fried chicken livers at the Huber Family Farm in Starlight, IN. In 1994, I went there with a friend and was hooked. Problem is it's a good 2 hour drive from Indy. Just a bit far for a casual dinner. Finally, a couple of months ago, I had to take a business trip to Evansville. Connie got to go along. So, guess where we stopped for dinner on the way back? Yup, Huber Family Farm. A fun aside here, we got the geezer rate at the Casino Aztar hotel, drove 4 hours each way and ate five meals - all for under $200. Probably qualifies for Rachael Ray's $40 a day deal! At any rate, we got to the restaurant and there was no question what we were having for dinner. Splitting the chicken liver dinner and getting the extra sides. Even better was the fact they had Huber Winery wines (different Huber's) on the menu. We ran out of our Huber wines several months ago so it was fun to have one. The waitress brought the fried biscuits and apple butter to the table. I thought Connie was going to start in on the apple butter with a spoon. It was that good. I went up front to get a cookbook and see if that recipe and the chicken liver one was in there. They were. Then, they served dinner and one of our sides was Mrs. Huber's slaw. We've always been a mayonnaise cole slaw family. This was vinegar and oil. We were both smitten. I bought the cookbook. When we got that gorgeous cabbage from the CSA, I asked Connie if he'd like half of it turned into Mrs. Huber's slaw. Would he ever.
Our CSA cooler had one of the most glorious cabbages I think I've ever seen. We usually have a good idea what's in season so it wasn't a surprise to find that and some zucchini and yellow squash. The surprise was the big basket of mulberries. Fortunately, Foodbuzz came through and I've got two great recipes to choose from. But, I digress. When we head to the farmers market to pick up our cooler, I usually take along a couple of cookbooks so I can hunt for recipes utilizing my produce and make my grocery list. This week I took along a cookbook I've not yet tried: Gourmet Ireland by Paul and Jeanne Rankin. The recipe for a potato torte pratically jumped off the page. Who can go wrong with potatoes, bacon, cabbage and cheese? Time to try it! A note about the recipe. I found the directions a bit lacking. How many layers? Not a clue. I went ahead and covered the bottom of the casserole with potatoes. Turned out to be a third of them. So, I divided the cheese into sixth's and the cabbage and bacon into thirds. Worked perfectly. This came out of the oven just as our friends Nancy and Jeff showed up to head to the ball game with us. We gobbled our portions down and wrapped the rest up for them and guess who didn't take a photo of the final product? Suffice to say it was gorgeous and tasted equally good. I'd make it again today if Connie didn't want Mrs. Huber's cole slaw from the rest of the cabbage.
Potato Torte
4 1/2 c water
1/2 large head of cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
7 oz bacon cut into 1/2" pieces
1 1/2 c thinly sliced potatoes
salt and pepper
7 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated (I used old faithful, Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp)
In a small skillet, start the bacon. You'll want to remove it from the heat just as it starts to brown.
At the same time, in a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Once it's boiling, put in the cabbage and cook it for two minutes. Drain the cabbage. You'll need to squeeze it to get all the water out.
When the bacon is done, toss the bacon with the cabbage, reserving the fat.
Then, toss the potatoes with the bacon fat. Now, it's time to assemble the torte. You'll wind up with three layers each of the cabbage and the potatoes and six of the cheese. In an oven-proof baking dish, put in a layer of potatoes. You'll just want to cover the bottom of the dish.
Then sprinkle on one layer of cheese.
Follow with a layer of cabbage, then a layer of cheese.
Continue like this until all the ingredients are used up. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.
Seems like most folks either like the mayonnaise based version or the oil and vinegar based version. Me, I like both. It's typically the side I order when it's on the list. I love cole slaw on burgers, pulled pork, pork tenderloin, just about anything. For years, I used the cole slaw dressing in a jar. Then, one day I decided that was wasteful so I decided to make my own. That was typically a mayonnaise based dressing. A few weeks ago we ate at the Huber Family Farm on our way back from a business trip to Evansville. Between the vinegar based slaw and the apple butter, I knew I had to have the cookbook. Once our cabbage gets big enough we'll be making our own Huber slaw. But, last weekend we had ribs and those just call out for what is undoubtedly my favorite cole slaw - bbq. Just as a side note, a bit of history. It seems that cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and the rest of the brassica family evolved from a wild plant know as cole wart. Various cultures nurtured the plants to evolve into what they preferred, ergo the various brassicas we know and enjoy today.
