Lahanodolmades Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Food

LAHANODOLMADES: GREEK STYLE CABBAGE ROLLS WITH EGG LEMON SAUCE

Steps:

• Boil the cabbage in salted boiling water with the cored part facing down. Flip it around and boil an additional 10-15 minutes until the leaves begin releasing easily and have become somewhat translucent. They should not be overcooked to the point where they become soft and mushy.
• Pull the leaves out as they detach from the cabbage and set them in a colander to drain.
• When you peel off most of the leaves and you get to the core with the smaller leaves it will be difficult to remove the leaves without ripping them. At this point just remove the small bunch with the core attached and place in the colander. It will be easier to separate them once they are cooled. Most of these leaves will be too small to use for the cabbage rolls so they will be used as the bed or cover.
• Roughly chop the carrots and celery into large chunks and place them in the bottom of your pot. These will be the bed that the cabbage rolls will sit on so that they do not come in direct contact with the heat and cook more gently. This will prevent them from falling apart while simmering.
• Use some of the small and shredded pieces of cabbage to cover the vegetables.
• Place half of the onion in a food processor and pulse until it is finely chopped. Add the parsley and puree until smooth. Place this mixture in a large mixing bowl.
• ​Pulse the remaining half of the onion until finely chopped. Add the dill and puree until smooth. Place this mixture in the mixing bowl.
• ​Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, rice, olive oil, and water to the pureed​ ​herbs​ and onion and mix well to combine. The best way to do this is by hand. Break up the ground beef and add 1/4 cup more water if the mixture is not very moist.
• ​A very moist, wet filling will make the best tasting cabbage rolls.
• ​To assemble the cabbage rolls, take a cabbage leaf and lay it flat on your work surface. Cut of the thickest part of the stem. Place a full tablespoon of the filling in the center, fold the left and right sides of the leaf over the filling then roll it up.
• ​Continue the same process adjusting the amount of filling depending on the size of the cabbage leaves (smaller leaves get less filling). Keep in mind that when the filling is cooked, the rice will expand a bit. Roll them up tight but giving enough room for the rice to expand.
• ​Some leaves may be very large. You can cut those in half and use them to make 2 rolls.
• ​Layer the cabbage rolls in the pot fitting them snug together.
• ​Cover them with cabbage leaves.
• Place a plate over them inverted. This will keep them in place so that they do not fall apart while cooking.
• ​Pour enough water or chicken broth to come right up to the plate.
• Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30-45 minutes.
• ​Carefully remove the plate and the extra cabbage leaves from the pot.
• ​
• ​Combiner the egg yolks, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk well until smooth.
• Add some of the hot broth to the egg mixture. Whisk well.
• ​Season with some more salt and pour the egg-lemon​ mixture into the pot. Carefully shake the pot from side to side to distribute the egg-lemon​ sauce.
• ​Bring to a boil. Taste the seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Remove from heat and allow to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. The sauce will thicken as it sits.
• ​Serve with some warm toasted bread.
• Enjoy!

TRADITIONAL GREEK STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS (LAHANODOLMADES)

Steps:

• Prepare the rice mixture: Mix together the rice, ground beef, onion, spring onions, carrot, olive oil, parsley, dill, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for half an hour.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and stir in a teaspoon of salt.
• Remove the entire core of the cabbage using a sharp pairing knife. Immerse the cabbage in the boiling water, cored side down. The water should be almost to the top of the cabbage. Continue cooking over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, or, until the leaves can be easily separated (Note: If you use Savoy cabbage the cooking time is much shorter, at just under 5 minutes). Using tongs, carefully remove each leaf from the pot, as soon as they become soft and flexible, and place them on a drainer to cool. Set aside and reserve any hard, torn, or very small leaves to line the bottom of your pot later.
• To assemble the cabbage rolls: place a cabbage leaf on a work surface. Place a tablespoon of the filling (the size of a walnut) near the bottom of the leaf. If necessary, cut into the leaf's stem (in a V shape) to remove the hard and thick spine. This will make them easier to roll. Fold the bottom end up and over the filling, then fold the two side ends of the cabbage leaf towards the center. Roll the leaf up to enclose the mixture, making sure not to roll it too tight because the rice filling will expand while it cooks. For the leaves that are a bit too small, you can overlap two of them to form a larger leaf before filling, or, you can also patch up any tears the leaves might have. For the leaves that are too large, cut them in half along the hard stem.
• To layer the cabbage rolls: line the bottom of the pot with those reserved leaves that were too hard or too small to fill. This will protect the stuffed cabbage rolls from over browning. Arrange the rolls seam side down in the pot. Make sure they are placed snuggly against each other so they do not move during cooking. Repeat with a second layer of rolls. Top with more of the leftover harder cabbage leaves, if you have them.
• To cook: Pour the stock and water over them, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the top of the stuffed cabbage rolls with an inverted, heatproof, shallow plate or bowl. The plate should be large enough that it covers the rolls, but small enough to not touch the sides of the pot. This will keep the rolls in place while cooking and will ensure that they cook properly. Reduce the heat to a medium-low and simmer for about 45-50 minutes. Check to make sure the rice is tender. Turn off the heat and uncover the pot.
• Make the avgolemono sauce: Whisk the eggs very well until frothy; for best results, use a hand-held mixer. Add the lemon juice and the cornstarch and whisk again. Start "tempering" the eggs by adding a ladle of hot liquid from the pot to the bowl while whisking constantly. Add one more ladle and whisk again until combined. Stir in the egg-lemon broth into the pot, shaking the pan to distribute evenly. Bring to a very gentle simmer over medium-low heat for just a minute or so, making sure it does not come to a boil. Remove from the heat. Taste and adjust the broth for seasoning.
• To serve: arrange the rolls on individual serving plates and then top them with the frothy hot sauce (do not drown them). Garnish with lemon slices, fresh dill and some freshly ground pepper.

LAHANODOLMADES (STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS)

Steps:

• Boil a large pot of salted water.
• Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage until you can't easily remove them anymore. Blanch the outer leaves for 3 to 5 minutes until pliable. Then, put the remaining cabbage head in the water, and blanch 3 to 5 minutes, repeatedly until outer layers get easier to remove. I remove the leaves under cold running water, transporting my cabbage back and forth with a slotted spoon.
• In a large bowl, mix your stuffing ingredients around by hand until they get well incorporated.
• Then stuff your cabbage, about a teaspoon or so on each leaf. Place your stuffing on the thickest part of the leaf, or the base. Give it one roll, then flip in each side, and continue to roll until it fully closes. Don't worry if it's not perfect, it still comes out good.
• Now, in a large pot, sauté the onion, parsley, and garlic in the olive oil on medium high heat.
• Once the onions turn translucent, season with salt and pepper, stir in some tomato paste for a minute. Then add the chopped tomatoes.
• Once the tomatoes release some juice, add the crushed tomatoes and stir. Season again and add some oregano (not too much).
• Now place your cabbage rolls tightly into the pot. You may stack them on top of each other.
• Fill the pot half way up with water and then top your rolls with an up-side down dish or plate in order to keep them from opening or falling apart.
• Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low and cover.
• Simmer for about an hour. Do not increase the heat, you do not want the bottom rolls to burn. It might seem like some of the sauce hasn't reduced, but once you remove the cabbage rolls, you will see the actual amount of sauce left. At that time, you may decide to thicken your sauce by reducing it with the lid off for a minute or two.

LAHANODOLMATHES (GREEK CABBAGE ROLLS)

Steps:

• Combine the ground meats with the 3 tblsps olive oil, rice, onion, parlsey, celery, carrot, tomato paste, garlic and spearmint. Season with salt and pepper. Knead well to combine everything.
• Place cabbage in a large pot of boiling water and cover pot.
• When the outer leaves are blanched and softened, remove leaf by leaf, keeping the leaves whole, and place flat on a towel on work surface.
• Continue in this way, removing leaves as they become blanched and soft.
• Take some leaves that have not removed in one piece (the worse looking ones, or chop up some cabbage) and put in the bottom of a large pot.
• Take a cabbage leaf and place 2 tblsps of meat filling in the center.
• Fold both sides in and start rolling up, away from you, to make a cylinder, like an egg-roll or cigar. Do this rather loosely to allow for expansion of the meat and rice as it cooks. Lay these neatly in your pot, packing them in next to one another so they hold their shape.
• Continue rolling cabbage leaves until all your filling has been used up and/or you run out of leaves.
• Put more torn cabbage leaves or chopped up cabbage over the cabbage rolls.
• Pour over olive oil, add stock cubes and add enough hot water to just cover the cabbage rolls by ½".
• Weight the cabbage rolls with a plate and bring to the boil (the plate keeps the rolls from moving around too much as they cook, so that they don't unroll).
• Cook for just over an hour.
• Remove from heat.
• Carefully remove cabbage rolls to serving dish and make your sauce using the liquid remaining in pot.
• Beat the eggs with the corn flour and lemon juice.
• Very carefully and very slowly and whisking all the time, start to dribble the hot stock into the egg mixture. Keep doing this until you've added nearly all the stock. This tempers your eggs so that your sauce won't curdle.
• Pour the sauce back into the pot, and cook until the sauce just starts to simmer.
• Remove from heat and serve with the cabbage rolls coated generously with this sauce.
• Another recipe that goes so well eaten with nibbles of feta cheese and crusty bread (as all Greek recipes seem to).

STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

Steps:

• Separate the cabbage leaves once the heads are cool - remove hard spine.
• Saute garlic and onions until carmelized - set aside to cool.
• Mix ground beef, onion & garlic, egg, white rice and salt and pepper in large bowl.
• In a large casserole dish spread a thin layer of tomato sauce.
• Place about 1/4 cup of beef mixture and place in the cabbage leaf, roll up like you would an egg roll so that the mixture does not fall out.
• place each roll in pan, stacking if necessary.
• cover with remaining tomato sauce.
• Bake in 300 degree oven for 1 hour 45 minutes or until beef is done and leaves are soft.
• serve warm/hot with additional sauce over top.