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Lets Start Cooking
by Stephen Ruffin
Serves 6
The more I study recipes and their origins the more fascinated I become. Take Thai food for example, it’s food shows the migration of several peoples across its’ borders. Thai food combines the curries of India with the Asian spices of Chinese cuisine. The following recipe is a direct result of my southern roots married with my adopted northern cuisine. Of course this is also influenced by my dear neighbor and friend Esther Baumgarten, who is world famous as the "meatball queen" or at least of statewide fame.
Where I grew up in the south, instead of mashed potatoes we would always have eggplant dressing with Christmas or Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until I left home that I realized that other people had mashed potatoes
To ‘yankee’ up my eggplant dressing I started thinking of traditional northern dishes of which to ‘marry’ with. My best result was cabbage leaves. From there I realized that stuffed cabbage leaves alone would not suffice. I then decided to add a simple Creole sauce to add moisture and flavor contrast. Though if I prepared this dish back in Louisiana I might be looked at quizzically, but after the first bite my relatives would welcome this new variation of an old dish into their repertoire.
If you’ve never worked with cabbage before, don’t worry. The two easiest ways to deal with cabbage are to either carefully peel off the large outer leaves and then place them in boiling water for a couple of minutes until tender or insert a large fork into the base of the cabbage, submerge the whole cabbage into a large pot of boiling water and peel off the tender leaves as they cook from the outside in. Once you have a dozen large leaves cooked, take a knife and shave off the tough stem from each piece so that the leaves roll up easier once filled.
1# Lean Ground Beef 1# Ground Sausage 1 Large Eggplant-peeled and diced 2 Large Yellow Onion-small diced 2 Green Bell Pepper-small diced 6 Stalks Celery- small diced 5 Cloves Garlic-minced 1 Head Green Cabbage 4 cups cooked white rice 2 15-ounce Cans Stewed Plum Tomatoes-coarsely chopped Salt and Black Pepper 1/4 Teaspoon Tabasco
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large skillet brown the ground sausage and ground beef. Once browned, drain the grease and place into a large bowl. Reserving a small amount of the grease add the eggplant, 1 onion, 1 bell pepper, 4 stalks celery and 3 cloves garlic and saute’ until tender. Combine with the meat and add the rice, Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
Lay out cabbage leaves and spoon mixture onto leaf near the base. From the bottom or base of the leaf roll bottom over then fold sides up and finish roll. Once all twelve leaves are stuffed, place in a lightly oiled large oven-proof platter, cover with foil and heat thoroughly.
Meanwhile take remaining onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic and saute’ until tender. Once vegetables are soft, add the coarsely chopped plum tomatoes. Add salt and pepper and one shake of tabasco.
Remove cabbage rolls from oven and place two per plate. Top with a large spoonful of the Creole sauce and serve immediately. If you wish, all of this can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. If you have any questions or comments regarding this recipe please email me at www.letsstartcooking@aol.com.
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