Essential · about 2 h 30 min · Serves 4
Cabbage rolls with beef and rice in tomato sauce
The same root as the three Signature stuffed cabbage rolls of the family: cabbage leaves wrapping a filling of meat and rice, cooked slowly in a sauce. This version is the one from the kitchens of Central European immigrants in Argentina, with ground meat and raw rice that cook inside the roll, in a tomato sauce that thickens with its juices.
The twist is to take care of the two details that make it good. The cabbage is blanched leaf by leaf and the central rib is shaved down, so it rolls without tearing and ends up tender. The filling has sautéed onion, paprika and a little bacon, and the rolls are cooked tight and covered in the sauce until the rice is tender and the cabbage falls apart with a fork.
Special equipment: large pot for blanching; wide saucepan with lid or baking dish
Ingredients
Cabbage leaves
- 1 large or 2 small white cabbages, about 1.5 kg
- Coarse salt, for the water
Meat and rice filling
- 500 g ground meat, half beef and half pork
- 100 g long-grain rice, raw
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 60 g smoked bacon, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 15 ml neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 8 g fine salt
- Black pepper
Tomato sauce
- 800 g crushed tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 30 ml neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 bay leaf
- 400 ml stock or water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Fine salt and black pepper
Finishing
- 120 g sour cream or thick plain yogurt
- Chopped parsley or dill
Method
Cabbage leaves
- Blanching. Remove the core of the cabbage with a knife, making a deep cone. Submerge it whole in a large pot of boiling salted water and, as the outer leaves soften, 2–3 minutes, separate them with tongs and move them to a tray. Continue until you have 12 whole large leaves and some smaller ones to line the pot.
- Rib. With a knife, shave down horizontally the thick central rib of each leaf, without piercing it, until it is the same thickness as the rest: that way it rolls without cracking.
Meat and rice filling
- Base. Brown the bacon in the oil over medium heat 3 minutes, add the onion and cook 8 minutes, until soft, and the garlic and paprika 1 minute. Let cool.
- Mixing. Mix the meat with the raw rice, cold onion, egg, parsley, salt and pepper, until homogeneous.
- Assembly. Lay out a leaf with the rib toward you, put about 80 g of filling at the base, fold the bottom, then the sides inward, and roll firmly toward the tip, without squeezing: the rice swells. This makes 12 rolls.
Tomato sauce
- Sofrito and sauce. In a wide saucepan, sweat the onion in the oil 8 minutes, add the paprika off the heat and then the tomato, bay leaf, stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.
- Cooking the rolls. Line the bottom of the saucepan with the small leaves and arrange the rolls on top, seam side down, packed tight. Pour in the hot sauce to almost cover them. Cover and cook over the lowest heat 1 h 15 min – 1 h 30 min, or in the oven at 170 °C (340 °F) for the same time, until the cabbage is very tender and the rice cooked. Taste a roll and the sauce for salt; if the sauce is too runny, uncover for the last 15 minutes.
Finishing
- At serving. Have the sour cream and chopped herbs ready.
The dish
Use low, hot deep plates. Put a ladle of sauce at the base and set three rolls on top, one of them cut in half to show the filling. Coat with a little more sauce, add a spoonful of sour cream to one side and finish with chopped parsley or dill. Final look: pale green, glossy, tender rolls, the thick red sauce, the white of the cream and the green of the herb.
Key points
- Separate the leaves as they soften, so they do not tear.
- Shave down the central rib before rolling.
- Roll firmly without squeezing, because raw rice swells.
- Pack the rolls tight and cook them covered over the lowest heat.
- Taste a roll before turning off the heat: the rice should be tender.
Pairing
A young Malbec or a Pinot Noir. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon.
Notes
- Storage: they keep up to 3 days in their sauce at 5 °C (41 °F) or below, or 2 months frozen. Reheat covered to 74 °C (165 °F).