Ironic Chef #17, Cabbage

Recently Bonnie did a blog on a cabbage soup so I figured that cabbage would be a good ingredient to use for this weeks Ironic Chef.
For those of you that are new friends since I have come over to Multiply, The Ironic Chef Weekends are Blogs used for everyone that would like to participate and share recipes on a themed ingredient. We have built a very nice recipe collection this way and if you are looking for some excellent recipes for real home cooking , please just look at the blogs titled Ironic Chef.

Now I am sure that with the name Mac someone out there is thinking, "oh know, here comes a corn beef and cabbage recipe."  Sorry to disappoint anyone but I am not a big fan of corned beef. I don't mind cabbage and potatoes but throwing the two into a pot of water and boiling them up together isn't much of a recipe.

This weekend I am going to share my stuffed cabbage recipe. It's a bit different and takes some time to make but very enjoyable as long as you don't mind a little sour.

Ingredients

1 head of cabbage that has been cored and boiled just until you can pull the leaves off. I usually remove the leaves as it sits in the water and when I get a leaf off it goes into a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking.
5 medium sized potatoes, Peeled and let them sit in the water used to boil the cabbage that has been removed from the heat while everything else is prepped.
2 cups of a good quality sour kraut.
1 quart sized can of V8 juice, spicy V8 juice is really good for this too.
1 16 oz. can of diced tomatoes.


Filling for cabbages-
1 1/2 lbs of ground beef
1/2 cup of long grain white rice not cooked
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and mashed
1 large onion, minced
2 large eggs, mixed
salt and pepper to taste, heavy on the pepper.
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce

Directions

Take one cabbage leaf at a time, with a parring knife try to remove as much of the thick part of the center vein in the leaf. This makes for easier rolling.
Mix the filling together. If it looks a little to wet add up to 1/4 cup of bread crumbs to it. You don't want it to dry.
Add about 1/2 cup of the filling to each cabbage roll. Roll the filling in the leaf as you would a burrito or an egg roll. try to keep it compact and don't worry if it's not a beautiful work of art.
As you fill the cabbages place them into a deep pot that has a lid. Pour a bit of the V8 juice into the bottom and then put a single layer of cabbages.
After the first layer of cabbages are in the  pot it would be a good time to get those potatoes from the water and slice them to about 1/4" slices. Add a single layer of the potato slices over the layer of cabbages. Put about 1 third of the sour Kraut over the potatoes and then 1/3 of the diced tomatoes. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper and then start building another layer starting with the cabbages. Keep building the layers with the cabbages first, then the potatoes and then kraut and then the tomatoes until you have used up your cabbages.  Pour the V8 juice over the cabbages. Bing the cabbages to a simmer over medium heat and then lower the heat to low and cover. Cook for about 2 hours.
I have done this in a crock pot but it has to go on low for at least 8 hours unless you want to cook your rice first.  If you have a roaster pan for your oven that has a lid or want to cover it with tin foil so no moister escapes works well to. Just keep the temperature to about 350.

This stuffed cabbage dish has become a Christmas dish here. I made it one year and brought it for a Christmas dinner to go with a ham at the in-laws and it has been requested every year since. That is about 12 years now. Wow, time flies.

I hope everyone enjoys this recipe and later I will share my egg roll recipe. I am really looking forwards to seeing the recipes for cabbage this week.