...so good I finished them off for breakfast the next day. I just had no idea that cabbage rolls could be so good. Here's how this little scenario went down:
Last weekend I was riding along with my friend who I affectionately refer to as my Test Kitchen Dummy. He started talking about stuffed cabbage...someone had told him about making it or something or other..."It sounded really good" he said.
I wasn't really following the core of his commentary because suddenly I'm haunted by images of my mothers corned beef and cabbage and my deeply-seeded adversity to the whole salty soggy mess. Whenever I watch cabbage being cooked on TV the "blech factor" kicks in and I turn off. I adore cole slaw but cooked cabbage, other than hidden inside a pot-sticker? No thank you.
Last weekend I was riding along with my friend who I affectionately refer to as my Test Kitchen Dummy. He started talking about stuffed cabbage...someone had told him about making it or something or other..."It sounded really good" he said.
I wasn't really following the core of his commentary because suddenly I'm haunted by images of my mothers corned beef and cabbage and my deeply-seeded adversity to the whole salty soggy mess. Whenever I watch cabbage being cooked on TV the "blech factor" kicks in and I turn off. I adore cole slaw but cooked cabbage, other than hidden inside a pot-sticker? No thank you.
"...not that that's a hint at all..." he says. Oh! Who's the dummy in this scenario? I then remember how I made it my mission to try to keep an open mind in the kitchen, paying special attention when it comes to preparing a vegetable I'm trying to re-visit in an enlighted way...those vegetables I hated as a kid and thought I hated as an adult. Eggplant. All things in the squash family. Brussels sprouts. Cauliflower...
Anyhoo, I googled away the entire evening, immersed in images and recipes and cultural traditions of cabbages stuffed and rolled through-out the world. I returned to google images and passed my curser over the very first image and much to my delight, it turned out to be Smitten Kitchen's recipe. I know I should have gone there first, but how can I procrastinate when I'm suddenly inspired to get dressed and go the store and start cooking at 11:00 at night because Smitten inspires me so.
These cabbage rolls were really, really, really good.
I tweaked this recipe the teensiest bit by adding garlic to the sauteeing onions, after testing a tiny cooked patty of the meat mixture I just couldn't resist adding a big blob of my fresh-off-the-plane-from-Paris Dijon mustard from Hediard into my meat mixture. I also remembered I had just bought a bunch of fresh tarragon so I chopped up about a tablespoon and squished that in.
My go-to recipe for tomato sauce comes from 101 Cookbooks. This Five Minute Tomato Sauce is unbeatable, because you can spice it up a notch or two by just adding more red pepper flakes.
TKD: "those cabbage rolls were off the hook!" and he's no doubt gleefully conjuring up his next little kitchen challenge.
These cabbage rolls were really, really, really good.
I tweaked this recipe the teensiest bit by adding garlic to the sauteeing onions, after testing a tiny cooked patty of the meat mixture I just couldn't resist adding a big blob of my fresh-off-the-plane-from-Paris Dijon mustard from Hediard into my meat mixture. I also remembered I had just bought a bunch of fresh tarragon so I chopped up about a tablespoon and squished that in.
My go-to recipe for tomato sauce comes from 101 Cookbooks. This Five Minute Tomato Sauce is unbeatable, because you can spice it up a notch or two by just adding more red pepper flakes.
TKD: "those cabbage rolls were off the hook!" and he's no doubt gleefully conjuring up his next little kitchen challenge.
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