Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Another year gone by and winter has hit us up here in CT.  This recipe is one made almost out of the fact that I had a bunch of veggies I didn't know what to do with and wanted to do something new.  We have been part of the CSA at Stone Garden Farms in Shelton for almost 3 years now.  This was the first year we did the winter share.  So far I have been pretty happy with it.  The one thing I like about these share is the bounty of veggies and also the NEW veggies we get to try that I probably wouldn't otherwise try.  At the end of last seasons share we got a head (the size of my head) of Savoy Cabbage

 

This fellow is interesting.  Its like green cabbage but more flexible in terms of what you can do...which I wasn't aware of.  The only ways I have ever really had cabbage was in slaw (warm or cold) and with Corned Beef.  So I looked some recipes up.  I also wanted it "kid" friendly.  This mostly meaning were these ingredients on the okay list for little ones, and if there was a not okay item I didn't use it.  So the original recipe called to bake these rolls.  Today I am testing the crockpot method, pretty much so I don't have to flounder around dinner time.  Also I am thinking in terms of Gluten free meals as I am trying to get back on that...with about 95% success.  

So here is the recipe slightly modified from an Ina Garten recipe and using 95% ingredients from Stone Garden Farms (all but the spices and the rice)

1-1.5 pounds of ground beef

1 medium sized head of savoy cabbage

1/2 cup of uncooked rice

1 jar of marinara sauce (may need a little more)

1 bag (can) of chopped tomoatoes

salt

pepper

garlic powder

1. cut out the core of the cabbage with a paring knife and take any outer leaves off that don't look great, I chopped these up and saved them.

2. Bring a pot of water large enough to submerge the head of cabbage to a boil

3. put cabbage in the boiling water for a moment or two until the leaves start to easily pull away and take them off carefully.  Set them aside and let them cool.

4. In a bowl mix the beef, rice, spices, and chopped cabbage.  Also in this bowl add about a 1/2 cup of sauce, just to make it a little sticky but not liquidy.

5. Once the cabbage is cool to the touch cut the hard bottom stem off by cutting a little triangle.

6. In the bottom of the crock pot I put in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pot I also added the tomatoes. 

7. Now take a little bit of mixture in the middle of each leaf and wrap like a little burrito.  Experiment since some leaves of smaller then others. 

8. Put a layer of stuffed cabbages over the sauce and then cover with sauce. Continue in that form, sauce, cabbage, sauce.

9. cook in the crock pot for about 8 hours.

      If baking use a heat proof pot like a dutch oven.  cook at 350 for about an hour.  

10.  Enjoy!