Romanian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Erma’s Tuna Casserole? Erma, you must be daffy, or did you have a few too many of those Derby Mint Juleps? You are just not the Tuna Noodle Casserole kind of cook. Nor would you ever serve this jail house favorite.

Remember the scene in the movie, “The Blues Brothers?” Where Elwood, Joliet Jake, and Matt “Guitar” Murphy are discussing the foods they remember from the various correctional institutions they have eaten? Jake recalls the Wicked Pepper Steak they served on Thursday at Joliet, while “Guitar” Murphy says it couldn’t be as bad as the Cabbage Roll the served at the Terre Haute Federal Pen.

I don’t know how, or even want to think about, how the Terre Haute Pen did Cabbage Rolls, but in the right hands Cabbage Rolls can be wonderful. Here is an authentic Romanian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls that is a favorite all over eastern Europe. Since it is so inexpensive, and so smelly cooking, Paris Hilton would turn up her nose at this peasant dish. She would be missing a treat. I’ll bet that this is not on the menu of the L.A. County Correctional Facility for Celebs and White Collar Crimes.

Romanian Stuffed Cabbage Rolls:

2 tablespoons oil
3 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 cup mildly hot green peppers
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup rice
1 tablespoon paprika
1 head of cabbage
3 cups drained fresh sauerkraut (the kind you find in the refrigerated section, not canned)
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste

Mince the garlic with a garlic press. Brown garlic, onion, and peppers in oil until wilted in a large saucepan with a lid. Add 1 cup of the broth, rice, paprika, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Cool.

Core the cabbage and pull off the leaves whole. In a large pot of salted water blanch the leaves for about 2 minutes. Drain them and let cool. Cut out the tough white base of each leaf.

In heavy dutch oven, pour in about 2 cups of the sauerkraut.

Mix ground pork with the cooled rice, and egg. Open out a cabbage leaf and place some of the pork mixture in the center. Carefully roll up, folding in the sides as you roll to make a neat roll.

Place rolls on the kraut in dutch oven and spread the remaining cup of kraut and broth over the rolls. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for about 75 minutes. Serves 8.

This is hearty winter fare. A dark pumpernickel bread would be good with this.

Many people turn up their noses at kraut, and frankly, some is limp and smelly. If you don’t have homemade kraut, use only the kind that comes in plastic bags and is refrigerated. If you don’t use all of a bag at once, just put the remainder in a zip lock bag, or a storage container with a lid. It will keep indefinitely in the fridge–like months even.

Now a little German secret. Sprinkle a little caraway seeds and a teaspoon or so of brown sugar in with the kraut. This really perks up the kraut. You could do the same with the above recipe.