Good, old-fashioned comfort food, made healthy. Ground Turkey and rice make up the base of the stuffing, wrapped up in steamed cabbage leaf ladled with a Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce courtesy of the infamous Barefoot Contessa.
Ingredients for Eight People
For the Sauce:
from Barefoot Contessa At Home
3 Tbsp of good Olive Oil
2-3 chopped onions
2 28 oz cans of good quality Tomatoes, whole or crushed
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
optional add-ins: cinnamon 1 tsp., 4-5 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of allspice, ground
For the filling, I have adapted Ina Garten's recipe
2 lbs of Ground Turkey, browned in 1-2 Tbsp. of oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of plain dried breadcrumbs
3/4 cup white rice, dry
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder/granules
3 Tablespoons of light brown sugar
1 cup of golden raisins
1 cup of sweet & sour sauce from above
1-2 heads of Green Cabbage, depending on size
Directions:
Start the sauce by sautéing the chopped onions over medium high heat in olive oil, stirring occasionally, till translucent. This should take you 8 minutes. If you're tomatoes are whole, crush them before adding them to the onions. Once tomatoes are added, add all additional items listed for the sauce. The optional add-ins are completely up to the cook. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer and cover for 20-30 min.
Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil, for the cabbage. Then place a medium pot of water with 8-10 cups of water to boil, for the rice. Add a tablespoon of kosher salt. When the rice water comes to a boil, add rice and boil like pasta for 14 min. Then drain and set aside to let cool.
Core the inside of the cabbage with a paring knife. You can use your fingers to help pull the core out. When the water comes to a boil, drop the cabbage in the pot, covered for five minutes dropping the heat slightly. Then place on cookie sheet, to cool. Repeat with the second head if using.
Assemble the filling together in a large bowl. Place all of the filling ingredients together, and mix well with a rubber spatula, adding a cup of sauce.
To assemble the rolls. Pull one of the steamed leaves off, and place it on a cutting board. Put about a 1/3 cup of filling toward the bottom of the inside of the leaf. Bend the sides of the leaf in and roll away from you, creating a little parcel.
Add a cup and a half of sauce in the bottom of a large pyrex or ceramic roaster. Line up rolls side by side. Ladle about two cups of the sauce over the top of rolls.
Bake at 350 for 30 min. Tent with foil during the last 15 min. of baking.
