Stuffed Cabbage

Although my husband and I married someone who shares the same nationality, ours was a cross-cultural marriage of sorts as North merged with South. Their ways, their food, their behaviors, etc. were quite different from mine. I learned of all kinds of strange and new types of food when I moved into his area, cabbage rolls or stuffed cabbage being one of them. I like to think of cabbage rolls as being a marriage between Polish and Italian food, both with large numbers of people in the Cleveland area. Really, I have no idea where they originated. These cabbage rolls were adapted from a recipe by Michael Symon, one of our favorite local chefs. This recipe makes 6 rolls so double all the ingredients to get 12-13 rolls.

Stuffed Cabbage
1 small-medium head cabbage
500g ground beef/buff
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup uncooked white rice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 Tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 can tomato puree/sauce (smaller size)
1 cup water + 1/2 chicken cube
Salt and Pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it with a heaping teaspoon. Core the cabbage the best you can without cutting it apart. When the water is boiling, drop the head of cabbage, core up, down into the boiling water. Boil 3-5 minutes or until a leaf will easily peel off when pulled with the tongs. You need 6 whole leaves. Remove the head from the water and set aside. Making sure the meat is not too wet, in a bowl combine it with the chopped onion, white rice, thyme, parsley, garlic powder, and 1/2 cup of tomato puree. Salt with approximately 1/2 teaspoon salt and add pepper to the mixture. In a small pot, heat all the remaining tomato puree with the water and chicken cube. The consistency should be almost as runny as water.

Separate all the additional cabbage leaves from the head and layer them on the bottom of an 11x7 baking dish. To assemble the rolls, open one of the large leaves and fill with 1/3 cup of the meat mixture. Carefully, fold the ends and sides up to form a roll and place seam-side down in a pan. Once all the rolls are assembled, sprinkle any extra meat mixture down into the pan and pour the liquid tomato sauce over the top of each roll. It should fill up the bottom of the dish.

Cover tightly with foil and bake in a 170C/350F degree oven for 1.5 hours. If you want to speed it up, you can brown the beef first and raise the temperature to 190, cooking just about 1 hour.

Updated May 2020: If you have a slow cooker, you can cook these on low for about 6 hours. A little cheat that I have for introducing extra flavor into the recipe is using a jar of pre-made pasta sauce in place of the puree. It is seasoned perfectly so in a pinch that's my "go to."

**Note: This recipe is gluten-free ONLY if you use a chicken stock or cube that is gluten free.**

Lip Smackin' Ribs

Now I know this is not an everyday meal for most of us, but when you want to do something special for your family or guests, it’s an easy knock-your-socks-off main dish. So few ingredients to produce something incredibly delicious and tender! I had been planning on experimenting with my rice cooker as a slow cooker for making ribs, but an extended nap in the afternoon left me with less than 2 hours for braising. Most recipes I came across suggested a minimum braise of at least 2 hours so that was out of the question. Out came my pressure cooker to the rescue, and in an hour I had mouthwatering, fall-off-the-bone-tender ribs. You’ve seriously got to try this! I bought my ribs from a cold storage meat supplier, but they are the local ones—not the crazy expensive imported ones. I would imagine you could just point to your own ribs at a local butcher and get the same thing, too. It might just require some trimming of skin and excess fat at home—from the pork, that is, not you. 

Barbecue Pork Ribs 
1 slab pork ribs, cut into smaller sections of 2-3 ribs

2 Tablespoons oil

¾ cup brown sugar

2/3 cup barbecue sauce (homemade or bottled)

1 ½ cups liquid (broth, red wine, beer, etc.)

Salt and Pepper

Once you cut the ribs apart, lightly cut an X into the back of them to keep them from curling during cooking. Heat the pressure cooker over medium heat and add the oil. You’ll need to vent your kitchen as this next part may get a little smoky. Sprinkle the ribs with a small amount of the brown sugar and season liberally with salt and pepper on one side. Lay the ribs sugar side down (do two batches) into the pan, allowing them to get some brown searing. Seasoning the other side while they are in the pan. When the ribs lift easily from the bottom, flip them and sear the other side. Remove from pan and sear the second batch. Once you’ve removed all the browned ribs, add your liquid to the bottom of the pan. As it heats, scrape the browned bits off the bottom to flavor the sauce. I used ½ cup red wine for this deglazing and 1 cup chicken stock. Add all the remaining brown sugar, barbecue sauce, and liquid. Keep on medium heat, stirring until the brown sugar has dissolved. Add the ribs to the pan, and clamp on the pressure cooker lid. Bring the cooker up to pressure on high heat, and after the first “whistle” or reaching of pressure, reduce the heat to low. That’s it! Wait 1 hour with it on low, release the pressure, and enjoy. The sauce will thicken some on standing. Serve with something that can soak up all that delicious sauce like roasted or mashed potatoes, rice, or bread.