Holishkes...or stuffed cabbage rolls

I posted this before we officially began cooking and blogging our way through Marlena Spieler's Jewish Cooking cookbook. I've had several people ask me to publish the recipe. I actually had it here at one time...but I was lazy and just took photos of the recipe and uploaded them. WRONG! Below the photos is my adaptation of the recipe.

Just before I poured the chopped tomatoes over.

Ahhh....after.
So we have sliced onions and chopped onions...and 5 minced garlic cloves.
I used two kinds of cabbage...blanched each and pulled leaves off for rolling meat mixture in.
I also used some beet greens...because I could. Not in original recipe.
This is how I roll.


Ingredients:

2 lbs of lean ground beef (could use lamb or mixture of both)
3 -4 oz of long grain rice (not cooked)
4 med. onions, two chopped and two sliced
6 finely chopped garlic cloves (could make it less if you don't like garlic so much)
2 lightly beaten lg eggs
2 - 3 TBS water
2 large heads of cabbage ( I used one plain white and one napa cabbage)
*note: if you don't want to boil the heads, put them in the freezer for no less than 24 hours. Take them out about an hour before you start making the holishkes. The leaves will peel off.
2 14 oz cans of tomatoes...chopped
1/3 TBS sugar
1/3 TBS white wine vinegar (or apple cider or rice wine vinegar)
1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice..save some wedges to put on the plate for serving
pinch of ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Okay..put the ground meat, chopped onions, rice, garlic, salt and pepper into bowl. Mush together with your impeccably clean hands. Add the water to the two beaten eggs and combine. Chill...you and the mixture.

2. Cut the core from the cabbage...or get as much out as you can. Have a large pot of boiling water at the ready..unless you froze the cabbage. Blanch the cabbage for about 2 - 3 minutes. Take out with big tongs....and a big spoon. Let cool slightly and then gently peel leaves off. You will have to re-submerge to get more layers off. Any cabbage that is left over, just chop roughly and add to pan for cooking! Preheat that oven to 325 degrees.

3. Form the beef mixture into ovals or eggs shapes. Don't overwork the mixture...that makes em tough. Same for meatballs! Wrap each one in a cabbage leaf...like you are putting a diaper on. Make sure the mixture is completely enclosed. Keep going. I also used some blanched beet greens that I had saved..just scooched em in there with the cabbage leaves.

4. In a large oven-proof pan or dish (I sprayed mine with Pam), lay the rolls side by side and then layer with the onions. To the tomatoes, add the cinnamon, sugar, vinegar and lemon juice and then slosh that over the entire top. Add a bit more salt and pepper. Cover and bake for 2 hours. Baste during cooking time...at least twice, with the tomato mixture. If I recall, I think I also poured over a bit of low sodium V-8 juice..adjusted seasonings. I don't know why I did that...except that I cannot follow a recipe for the life of me!

5. After two hours, uncover and let cook for another 30 - 60 minutes. You don't want the cabbage to melt away.

Enjoy! This is something my mom made for us all the time.

She used to freeze it and send it (packed in dry ice) to my Aunt Kitty in Illinois! I actually froze it solid once and sent it to Dave here in Sacramento. At the time, I had no idea how hot it gets in Sacramento in April. Dave came home and as soon as he got out of his truck he could smell the stuff on his doorstep. Needless to say...he didn't eat it.

If you want to ship, insure the trip...dry ice!