Cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice and tomatoes, baked in a sweet and tangy tomato sauce.
Course: Entrée
Cuisine: Irish
Servings: 6(2 each)
Ingredients
1/2lb.lean ground beef
3c. cookedlong grain white rice
1/2tsp.salt
1/4tsp.pepper
1/4tsp.ground cinnamon
1/4tsp.ground cloves
1(14.5 oz.) candiced tomatoes
2headsgreen cabbage
8c.water
2T.granulated sugar
1T.lemon juice
1T.vinegar
2bay leaves
2 1/2c.tomato juice(I use V8 juice)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix beef, cooked rice, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves and tomatoes; set aside.
Wash and core the cabbages. Bring a large stockpot filled with 8 cups of water, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar and bay leaves to a boil. Blanch each cabbage separately for 5 minutes, turning the cabbage over half way through the cooking time. Drain the cabbages in a colander, let cool, then carefully peel 12 leaves from the cabbages.
Place 1/4 cup of the beef and rice mixture onto each leaf. Fold in the sides of the leaf and wrap into a roll, enclosing all the filling. Place cabbage rolls, seam side down, closely together in a 9 x 13 x 2-inch shallow baking pan.
Pour the tomato juice over the cabbage rolls. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the meat is well done.
Cook's Note: We use two heads of cabbage to get the 12 biggest leaves possible.