Cabbage Roll Surprise
12 May 2019 10:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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gluten_freeOften when I mention I eat gluten-free, folks get so concentrated on the no wheat that they forget all the other wonderful things there are to enjoy. This is a recipe full of flavor and suffers nothing for not containing anything gluten.
This recipe came from an Eastern Star cookbook published in the 60's. It had another name and fiddly ingredients, including canned green beans! My mother loved it and served it once a month during the winter. It was certainly tasty to our family and I carried it off with me when I got married. Time passed and I continued cooking it while making changes...nothing dramatic all at once but slowly one ingredient at a time. It wasn't until I stopped including those green beans some years ago that I looked at what was left in the casserole and realized it was deconstructed cabbage rolls! There's your surprise.
Ingredients (check your labels diligently on commercial items since the recipe can change to include wheat/gluten without a noticeable change to the packaging):
1 1/2 cups short grain brown rice
1 large yellow onion (or white if you prefer) chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice (14.5 oz)
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound bulk sausage (flavor of your choice)
14 ounce bag of coleslaw mix (or 4 cups chopped cabbage)
and some water as needed
I assemble this in a glass 3.5 liter casserole. The raw sausage I pinch into lumps maybe 3/4 inch in diameter and drop into the casserole. After everything is in the casserole I mix with a spoon so the ingredients are fairly evenly distributed. You want to level the contents so nothing sticks way up and then add some water. I swirl hot water in the cans to get all the tomato-ey goodness and pour that into the casserole so water level almost breaks the surface. The amount of water will depend on how much you get into your container but I'd say approximately 1 cup. Put on the lid, slide into a 350 degree fahrenheit oven and cook for 90 minutes. Let rest for 10 or 15 minutes when the timer goes off and then serve. Should feed 6 or 7 and makes wonderful leftovers to reheat.
This is the standard recipe I make but there are several variations. You can add another half pound of meat; my husband brings home a 24 ounce bulk country sausage and I just toss it all in. You can use ground beef instead of the sausage but you'll need to add additional seasoning since the beef doesn't have any. You could use hot sausage or italian or a specialty sausage or even pull the casing off some links if that appeals to your taste. I love tossing in the ready cut cabbage mix but made this casserole for decades after chopping half a head of cabbage. You can reduce the cabbage to 3 cups or increase to 5 without worrying. Same with the onion: add two if you like more onion.
Sometimes I think this tastes even better on the second day when I warm my bowl of leftovers with a slice of cheddar or american cheese on top. And yes, this is not a low-fat recipe. The fat that cooks out of the sausage or ground beef is part of the flavoring.
Tabs
This recipe came from an Eastern Star cookbook published in the 60's. It had another name and fiddly ingredients, including canned green beans! My mother loved it and served it once a month during the winter. It was certainly tasty to our family and I carried it off with me when I got married. Time passed and I continued cooking it while making changes...nothing dramatic all at once but slowly one ingredient at a time. It wasn't until I stopped including those green beans some years ago that I looked at what was left in the casserole and realized it was deconstructed cabbage rolls! There's your surprise.
Ingredients (check your labels diligently on commercial items since the recipe can change to include wheat/gluten without a noticeable change to the packaging):
1 1/2 cups short grain brown rice
1 large yellow onion (or white if you prefer) chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes with juice (14.5 oz)
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound bulk sausage (flavor of your choice)
14 ounce bag of coleslaw mix (or 4 cups chopped cabbage)
and some water as needed
I assemble this in a glass 3.5 liter casserole. The raw sausage I pinch into lumps maybe 3/4 inch in diameter and drop into the casserole. After everything is in the casserole I mix with a spoon so the ingredients are fairly evenly distributed. You want to level the contents so nothing sticks way up and then add some water. I swirl hot water in the cans to get all the tomato-ey goodness and pour that into the casserole so water level almost breaks the surface. The amount of water will depend on how much you get into your container but I'd say approximately 1 cup. Put on the lid, slide into a 350 degree fahrenheit oven and cook for 90 minutes. Let rest for 10 or 15 minutes when the timer goes off and then serve. Should feed 6 or 7 and makes wonderful leftovers to reheat.
This is the standard recipe I make but there are several variations. You can add another half pound of meat; my husband brings home a 24 ounce bulk country sausage and I just toss it all in. You can use ground beef instead of the sausage but you'll need to add additional seasoning since the beef doesn't have any. You could use hot sausage or italian or a specialty sausage or even pull the casing off some links if that appeals to your taste. I love tossing in the ready cut cabbage mix but made this casserole for decades after chopping half a head of cabbage. You can reduce the cabbage to 3 cups or increase to 5 without worrying. Same with the onion: add two if you like more onion.
Sometimes I think this tastes even better on the second day when I warm my bowl of leftovers with a slice of cheddar or american cheese on top. And yes, this is not a low-fat recipe. The fat that cooks out of the sausage or ground beef is part of the flavoring.
Tabs
no subject
Date: 2019-05-12 07:11 pm (UTC)Although, as a warning to others, the cabbage and the onions start to disintegrate after a couple of re-heatings... so after the first time, only re-heat what you're going to eat, it's better that way.
I want this for dinner this week!
Date: 2019-05-12 08:27 pm (UTC)What shape is your dish? Our covered dishes are all circular with rounded bottoms: do you think that will work? would an enameled cast-iron casserole suffice?
Should none of the ingredients poke out of the water?
Re: I want this for dinner this week!
Date: 2019-05-12 09:43 pm (UTC)As to the water level; the original, original recipe wanted white rice and a can of tomato juice and wasn't that just absolutely the 50's! So, we are adding enough water to cook the rice along with the liquids from the canned tomatoes. I don't pack the ingredients tightly after they are combined, just swipe across with the spoon so everything is fairly level and then add water until it is just below the level of the contents. If you don't include some water then the rice at the top doesn't cook properly and it stays crunchy! After it heats up and starts boiling in the oven the water expands a bit and everything simmers in the liquid. So, the ingredients may poke out of the water perhaps an eighth inch-ish??
The whole recipe is pretty forgiving on precision measurement. I pour rice into a large measuring cup and there may be an extra tablespoon or two of rice, I long ago stopped actually measuring the cabbage and just decide four cups by eye if I'm chopping and onion content is whatever I feel like chopping: big or small, one or two. If you are truly worried about the rice cooking you can pull the oven door open, lift the lid and stir everything thoroughly at the one hour mark and return it to the oven.
Because of the whole simmering thing, that 10-15 minute period of just setting after it comes out of the oven is really important. Not just to let the liquid cool but it gives the rice time to keep absorbing moisture and flavor. It was not tasty at all the time I experimented with shortening cooking time to 75 minutes...just no, no! Ninety minutes in the oven and then let it set.
I hope you enjoy. I'd love to hear how it works for you.
Tabs
Re: I want this for dinner this week!
Date: 2019-05-13 06:00 pm (UTC)