Directions: |
Directions:First, make your favorite marina sauce and put about 5 cups of it in a crock pot on medium heat. (Once I drop the cabbage rolls in, I switch to high heat for 2 hours, then lower to medium heat for 6-8 hours.)
Core a cabbage about 2” in depth and place cored side down, in a 5-quart pot on stove with about 2-3” of water in it. Once water begins to boil, lower the temp to medium-high and steam cabbage for 15 minutes. Drain in a colander then run cold water in the cored hole of the cabbage for a minute. Turn cabbage, cored side down, in colander and run cold water on top of cabbage as well. Let sit for a couple of minutes until it’s cool enough to handle. Then place the cabbage on a cookie sheet right side up and remove the large outer leaves that may have been destroyed and discard them. Carefully begin peeling off the cabbage leaves by rotating the cabbage and turning it all around (upside down, etc) keeping them whole and undamaged as possible. Lay out the cabbage leaves on a cookie sheet (I get about 13-15 good leaves per cabbage for the rolls) and set the remainder of the cabbage aside.
Wet the rice and drain in colander. In a bowl, mix ground meat, rice, breadcrumbs, chopped onion, chopped bacon, egg, salt & pepper. Season it like you would season a meat loaf. Toss this mixture with your hands until well mixed.
Put about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage leaf, starting at what was the stem-end, and fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Hold together by inserting a toothpick into the roll (they freeze well too at this point). Stir the marinara sauce well and then one by one, carefully drop the cabbage rolls into the marinara sauce. DO NOT STIR THE CABBAGE ROLLS AS THEY MAY FALL APART! Use the bottom of a large spoon and push the cabbage rolls down into the sauce until they are all covered (or mostly covered). Chop about 3/4 cup of the remainder of the cabbage & add to crock pot and make and add small meatballs with the remainder of any of the meat stuffing. Cook on high heat for 2 hours, then lower to medium heat for 6-8 hours. |
This recipe for Crock Pot Cabbage Rolls is from