Stuffed Cabbage Rolls a la Aunt Angela

I had dinner recently at a new restaurant here in Northern California. The featured entrée was a stuffed cabbage roll, and I was very excited! This is one of my all time favorite braised dishes, and if done properly, there is nothing better. Well, it wasn’t. Unfortunately, it was probably the single worst entrée I’ve ever been served (and that’s saying something, since I estimate I’ve eaten out 6,725 times!). I won’t go into details about that meal (yet), but I will say that one of the small problems was that it came to the table WITH NO CABBAGE! I got a meatball, and it wasn’t even a good meatball. So, to purge myself of that horrible experience, I decided to make stuffed cabbage rolls. And, not just any cabbage rolls, my Aunt Angela’s cabbage rolls.

One of my earliest, and fondest, culinary memories was sitting as a young child at my Aunt’s kitchen table, watching her roll these stuffed cabbage leaves. Along with my Mom, Grandmother and Grandfather, my Aunt Angela and Uncle Bill (who’s been mentioned on the site a few times) were huge influences on my early culinary development. She is probably more famous for her amazing pies, but for me, when I think of her cooking, I think cabbage rolls. The only problem is, no matter how closely I follow the recipe hers still will always taste better. That’s just how home cooking is; the only ingredient you can’t add to a recipe list is that childhood memory.

Make sure you have a large Dutch oven with a tight fitting to make these. They need lots of room to braise. As you’ll see in the clip, I was really pushing it with the size pot I used. Of course you can vary this recipe many ways, by using different types and combinations of ground meats. Her original recipe just used all beef, but I added part veal to mine. Enjoy!

Ingredients: Makes 10 large or 20 small rolls
1 large green cabbage
1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound ground veal
3/4 cup raw white long grain rice
1 stick butter
1 bunch Italian parsley
1 yellow onion
1 egg
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 quart beef broth (or water)
1 cup water
1 can crushed tomatoes (28oz)
*Should cook for 2 hours at 350 degrees F., but check after an hour and add more water if they seem to dry)