My mom is the only person I know who makes cabbage rolls like this - sweet and sour. It's also a wonderful comfort food. If painstakingly dissecting a cabbage, then using the leaves to hand roll these treats isn't love, I don't know what is!
I find the process of peeling away the cabbage leaves, without ripping them, strangely meditative.
If your loved ones don't like raisins, brown sugar and lemon juice in their cabbage (Leon doesn't), just leave them out. You can add it to your serving at the last minute if you have to. I think this recipe, which includes onions in the beef, has some zing that I don't find in the halupkis made at local church picnics around Berwick and Bloomsburg, even without the raisins, sugar and lemon juice.
Ingredients:
1 large, loose head of cabbage.
2 TB oil
2 sliced onions
2 large cans of tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
3 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 pound ground beef
3 Tbs. rice, cooked al dente
4 Tbs. grated onion
1 egg
3 Tbs cold water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup seedless golden raisins
1. Cook the rice
2. Cook the cabbage. You can boil it for an hour. Or you can stick it in the microwave with a little water and steam it until leaves are soft enough to gently separate. Run it under cold water when you're done, either way.
3. Heat oil in a really LARGE pot. Lightly brown the sliced onions. Then add the tomatoes and mash them. Add 1/2 of the salt and pepper. Cook on low for 30 minutes.
4. While the tomatoes cook, mix the beef, rice, grated onion, egg and water. Roll the mixture into a ball and put in the curve of a cabbage leaf. Tuck in the sides around the meatball and then roll it up, like a burrito.
5. Place the rolls in the sauce. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours.
6. Add the brown sugar, lemon juice and raisins to taste. Cook 30 minutes longer.
Vegetable
“noodles” are super trendy, and summer is the best time to make them
since the king of the veggie noodle — zucchini —is ubiquitous, and
inexpensive.
Go ahead and load up, because zucchini is a true powerhouse of vitamins. One cup provides over a third of your daily vitamin C, and about 10 percent of five additional vitamins and minerals, and weighs in at under 20 calories.
While “zoodles” are easily the most popular noodle, noodles can be made from a variety of vegetables.
Try other summer squashes, winter squash such as butternut, beet, carrot, sweet potato and parsnips.
Veggie noodles are easy to make, too. You can buy an inexpensive spiralizer to make quick work of cutting perfectly-shaped noodles.
Or, you can even use your vegetable peeler to shave long, thin ribbons from your vegetables; no special equipment needed.
Cooking the noodles is quick, too: usually by steaming or sauteeing briefly.
Some veggies, like summer squash, can be left completely raw if you want, and made into a cold summer noodle-like salad.
If you have been seeking the perfect recipe to dip your toe into the veggie noodle world, today’s recipe is perfect.
Sunshine Vegetable Ribbons can be made in mere minutes using only a vegetable peeler and a pan as equipment.
The flavors are bright and familiar: a little garlic, lemon, toasted pine nuts and nutty parmesan cheese.
Serve this as a pretty first course, as a side dish or even as a vegetarian main course, with a thick slice of crusty Italian bread on the side.
Once you’ve mastered the vegetable peeler noodle, get creative and explore the endless options for this new technique, swapping in vegetables for pasta in your favorite recipes.
Sunshine Vegetable Ribbons
Servings: 4
Start to finish: 15 minutes
2 large carrots, peeled
2 crookneck squashes (yellow summer squash)
2 zucchini
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1 ounce parmesan cheese, shaved into shards with a vegetable peeler
Lemon zest or fresh herbs for garnish, if desired
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Use a vegetable peeler to shave long, thin ribbons (like flat noodles) of the vegetables. (You will likely have a thin core remaining of each vegetable.)
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan.
Add the garlic and saute for one minute, until fragrant.
Add the vegetable ribbons, a pinch of salt, and stir.
Add the lemon juice and cover with a lid for just one minute (or longer if you want very soft ribbons).
Remove the lid, and remove from heat.
Serve on four plates, topped with pine nuts, parmesan cheese, black pepper and lemon zest or fresh herbs.
Nutritional information per serving: 128 calories; 66 calories from fat; 7 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 6 mg cholesterol; 408 mg sodium; 13 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 7 g sugar; and 6 g protein.
Go ahead and load up, because zucchini is a true powerhouse of vitamins. One cup provides over a third of your daily vitamin C, and about 10 percent of five additional vitamins and minerals, and weighs in at under 20 calories.
While “zoodles” are easily the most popular noodle, noodles can be made from a variety of vegetables.
Try other summer squashes, winter squash such as butternut, beet, carrot, sweet potato and parsnips.
Veggie noodles are easy to make, too. You can buy an inexpensive spiralizer to make quick work of cutting perfectly-shaped noodles.
Or, you can even use your vegetable peeler to shave long, thin ribbons from your vegetables; no special equipment needed.
Cooking the noodles is quick, too: usually by steaming or sauteeing briefly.
Some veggies, like summer squash, can be left completely raw if you want, and made into a cold summer noodle-like salad.
If you have been seeking the perfect recipe to dip your toe into the veggie noodle world, today’s recipe is perfect.
Sunshine Vegetable Ribbons can be made in mere minutes using only a vegetable peeler and a pan as equipment.
The flavors are bright and familiar: a little garlic, lemon, toasted pine nuts and nutty parmesan cheese.
Serve this as a pretty first course, as a side dish or even as a vegetarian main course, with a thick slice of crusty Italian bread on the side.
Once you’ve mastered the vegetable peeler noodle, get creative and explore the endless options for this new technique, swapping in vegetables for pasta in your favorite recipes.
Sunshine Vegetable Ribbons
Servings: 4
Start to finish: 15 minutes
2 large carrots, peeled
2 crookneck squashes (yellow summer squash)
2 zucchini
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1 ounce parmesan cheese, shaved into shards with a vegetable peeler
Lemon zest or fresh herbs for garnish, if desired
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Use a vegetable peeler to shave long, thin ribbons (like flat noodles) of the vegetables. (You will likely have a thin core remaining of each vegetable.)
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan.
Add the garlic and saute for one minute, until fragrant.
Add the vegetable ribbons, a pinch of salt, and stir.
Add the lemon juice and cover with a lid for just one minute (or longer if you want very soft ribbons).
Remove the lid, and remove from heat.
Serve on four plates, topped with pine nuts, parmesan cheese, black pepper and lemon zest or fresh herbs.
Nutritional information per serving: 128 calories; 66 calories from fat; 7 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 6 mg cholesterol; 408 mg sodium; 13 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 7 g sugar; and 6 g protein.
