Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Cabbage Roll Casserole, why roll when you can stir, bake and eat? My all in one bowl, all in one pot meal that satisfies, fills, feeds an army for pennies and is absolutely delicious!


 
I love cabbage rolls.  I love them but I find them exhausting to even think about making.  I have gotten together with friends to make cabbage rolls, perogies or lasagna.  They just aren't something I make on a Wednesday for dinner.

Years ago, in a fit of brilliant laziness, I came up with this version of cabbage rolls.  My roll casserole.  Delicious, all the flavors and textures hit right and easy easy easy.  Sure there's the 2 hour bake time but it's not time where I have to DO anything and that's my kind of cooking time. 

Here we go, 

Tracy's Cabbage Roll Casserole

1 large cabbage
2 lbs ground beef
1 28 oz can whole, peeled, tomatoes
1 (scant) cup long grain rice
garlic
carrot, celery, onion
salt, pepper, worchestershire sauce
apple cider vinegar
water

Chop the veggies and put aside.  Brown the ground beef until it sizzles, you want to cook of the liquid and leave just the little bit of fat in the pan. When the meat is brown, add the veggies and cook for a few minutes.
   
Add the chopped garlic when the veggies are soft. Add a little water and some worchestershire.  Add a little apple cider vinegar, about 2 Tblspoons.  Simmer until the veggies are cooked through and the meat is tender.
Add the liquid from a can of whole tomatoes with the same amount of water and simmer.  Set aside until you're ready to cook, about 2 hours before you want to eat.
   

  
**YOU CAN COOK THIS MEAT IN THE PRESSURE COOKER, SIMPLY BROWN THE MEAT AND ADD THE VEGGIES AND LIQUID, LOCK AND LOAD 15 AND LET RELEASE NATURALLY**

Chop the cabbage into quarters, remove the core and slice into squares.
   
In an ENORMOUS bowl, put the cabbage, the meat mixture, the tomatoes (squashed) in a 4 cup glass measure with enough water to bring it to full and 1 cup of uncooked, long grain rice.
Mix it well, I use my hands.
Divide into two casserole dishes and add enough water to come 3/4 up the side of the dish.
   
Cover, tightly with parchment paper and then tin foil.
Toss into a 350 degree oven and leave for 2 hours.
 
After about 15 minutes on the counter to rest and DIVE IN!
  
Generously dish it up into fabulous pale sage green bowls that I just got from Ikea
 
I made "cheater" garlic cheese biscuits to go along
  
So, an easy dinner on a Wednesday.  Sure, it takes 2 hours to cook but it's not hours that require any attention or involvement from you, that's free cooking in my books.

The meat is flavorful, the rice is perfectly cooked, the cabbage has texture and is separate yet involved in the dish.  It's not mushy food at all, it's perfect food.  You can make extra tomato sauce to pour over but I really don't think it needs it.  This is moist and scrumtious and worth making for the pennies it costs.

This is a delicious casserole and it feeds an army.  It freezes beautifully, reheats just fine and is even one of the meals I don't mind if they use the microwave to reheat.
 

go on, go make some cabbage roll casserole,

/enjoy

3 comments:

  1. Great Idea! No more prepping the cabbage leaves to be rolled.
    On your suggestion - I tried the casserole with my old recipes tomato sauce and layered - cabbage, meat, cabbage and poured the sauce over the layers. Good result - none left! Thanks.

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  2. And add some cinnamon! :-)

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  3. more directions on pressure cooking this recipe.

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