I have made this dish several times before but I keep making adjustments.  This one I like b/c it brings me back to my roots in New Orleans’s for meat stuffing.  Instead of a Mirepoix (onion, carrot and celery), I went with the New Orleans Trinity of onions, celery and bell pepper.  This all comes back as a favorite of mine for stuffing green bell pepper or mirlitons (aka chayote squash).  Only with mirliton, I like to use ground lamb.  This substitute blend of Trinity offers a little more punch.  I have researched the origins of this dish (the way Grandma made it) but those left me little in want of just a little more flavor.  Don’t get me wrong.  Grandma’s is always good.

(Click on pic to enlarge)

1 head of cabbage
¼ Lb. ground beef
¼ Lb. ground veal
½ Lb. ground pork
Mirepoix:
½ onion finely chopped
1 celery stalk finely chopped
1 medium carrots grated
½ medium green pepper finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced

1 cup of cooked long grain rice
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs/panko
S&P
Sour Cream
Fresh dill
4 TBSP Butter (2 for the filling and 2 for the first sauce)
1 TBSP Olive oil
Two of these items. You will make 2 sauces, one for the over and one to serve:
1 15oz. can of stewed tomatoes (in celery, onion and green bell)
½ cup dry white wine
2 TBSP tomato paste (Mixed in the white wine)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Other:
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cabbage – Cut the core out of the center of the cabbage.  Place in at least a 7 Qt. pot half full of boiling water with the core side up.  Boil a couple of minutes and then gently remove the leaves with tongs and place on a tray, keep doing this until you have peeled all the biggest usable leaves and that the leaves are cooked but firm enough to roll.  Set aside to cool. With a knife shave the top main part of the rib off of the cabbage leaf to make the leaf flexible.

Rice – In the left over cabbage water cook rice 10 minutes and remove and drain. Run in cold water to stop cooking.

Chop the Mirepoix – Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bell pepper and 2 TBSP butter and chop in a food processor.

Filling – Mix the rice, meat, bread crumbs, mirepoix, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. I mixed it in a KitchenAid 3 minutes on stir setting with the mixing blade. Spoon ~ a third cup of filling and make a cylindrical meatball and place in a cabbage leaf.  Fold the top over tight then the sides and roll the cabbage and place in a 13×9 dish to set aside.

Sauce – Add 1 can stewed tomatoes, wine/tomato paste, chicken stock, and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer and place 1/2 at the bottom of a Dutch Oven. Note: The added chicken stock is there to boil and steam the rolls.

Cooking – Add the rolls in the pan. Cover with the rest of the sauce and a couple of cabbage leaves. Cook covered on 325° in the oven for 60 minutes. The idea is to cover the rolls so that they steam in the oven making the cabbage very tender and easy to cut with a fork. Check the rolls to make sure the cabbage is cooked. Remove the rolls into a cover cookware bowl. Let cool.

Place it in the frig overnight and reheat.

Serving Sauce – Make the sauce above again only do not add chicken stock. 

Plate, cover with serving sauce, sour cream and chopped fresh dill.

As of 1/28/24