For me, stuffed cabbage or galumpkis as my Polish great grandmother called them (and will forever be known in my family) are the ultimate comfort food. The smell of the sauerkraut and tomatoes simmering transports me back to my Grammy’s kitchen. Grammy showed her love through cooking for her family and I remember sitting at her kitchen table watching her work and feeling completely content, safe, and happy. My Dad eventually started following in her footsteps and cooking them for us became a New Year’s Day tradition (cabbage and pork for progress and prosperity). This meal is nostalgic, comforting, and hearty and I hope my kids will eventually enjoy the tradition as much as I do. This recipe, is nearly exactly as Grammy wrote it and later added more details to : )
What you need:
1 large head of green cabbage
3 slices of bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb of ground beef
1 lb of ground pork
1/2 cup of cooked white rice
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups of sauerkraut
1 can of tomato soup, 1 can of water after soup is emptied
(you can also use 2 cups of canned tomato sauce...I have done that when I forgot the tomato soup)
Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil and place your cored head of cabbage into the pot and boil for about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. In a sauté pan, cook your three slices of bacon. When the bacon is crispy, remove it to cool. Add your chopped onion to the bacon grease and soften, stirring around for about 5 minutes. In a mixing bowl mix your beef, pork, salt, pepper, egg, rice, cooked onion, and crumbled bacon. Preheat your oven to 350 and line the bottom of a casserole dish with your sauerkraut (drained of excess liquid). Now peel apart your cabbage leaves, being careful not to tear them. I like to shave down the stem with a vegetable peeler, you can also just cut the thick part out of each leaf. Fill the cabbage leaves with about 2-3 spoonfuls of your meat mixture into each one and fold into a little package, tucking in the ends so the meat can’t fall out. Place your cabbage rolls on top of the saurkraut in your casserole dish. Grammy said to mix one can of tomato soup with one can of water and pour on top, I have also done this with canned tomato sauce and it tastes nearly the same but the tomato soup is better : ) The canned soup is retro. Bake at 350 for one hour. This can easily be converted to a slow cooker recipe as well. Enjoy.
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