INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large cabbage (you need the leaves to be big enough to make rolls with)
• 1 1/2 lb grass fed ground beef (you can sub ground pork for half if you like)
• ¾ cup basmati/other long grained rice
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of grass fed butter, melted
• 1 cup freshly chopped parsley (loosely packed)
• 3 large cloves of freshly crushed garlic (I used a whole head of garlic because I LOVE garlic)
• 1 medium onion sliced thin
• 1 28oz jar of crushed tomatoes
• 1 quart homemade beef stock (you can sub water)
• 1 cup spring water
• 2 tsp worcestershire sauce (optional but gooood)
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper ( I used a little bit more)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Take out a nice sized cooking pot and fill it half way with water
2. Salt it well and bring it to a boil
3. Turn down the heat to a simmer
4. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, put the ground beef, rice, egg, melted butter, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne, and Worcestershire sauce in a large bowl.
5. Mix until very well combined
6. Put the meat mixture in the fridge
7. Now that your water is simmering away, it’s time to get the cabbage ready. Make sure you have a large bowl of cool water near the stove to place your cooked cabbage leaves in. Very important!
8. First cut out the core, really get in there. You want the leaves to come off easily
9. Rince the cabbage well
10. If the outer leaves look a bit ragged, feel free to peel them off
11. Now, taking a pair of tongs, gently lower the WHOLE head of cabbage into the pot of simmering water. It sound a little crazy, but trust me. Magic will happen!
12. You will quickly notice that the outermost leaf is beginning to soften and magically come off! Let the leaf continue to simmer for about 45-60 seconds
13. Once the leaf is nicely pliable, take it out with the tongs and place it in the bowl of cool water to hang out for a bit
14. Keep repeating this process, gently and carefully rotating the cabbage in the pot until all the leaves are done. If you ripped a few, that’s okay! We’re still going to use them.

Assembly

1. To assemble your stuffed cabbage rolls, you will need to trim the leaves a little bit. To do this, begin by
2. Cutting off the tough stem
3. Then run your knife along the stem to make it thin and pliable
4. ***If you don’t trim the stem you won’t be able to roll the cabbage and you will end up with cabbage and meatball soup, which will probably taste amazing anyways.
5. Take the meat mixture out of the fridge and divide it into even portions. If you have 10 nice cabbage leaves, you should make 10 portions of meat mixture
6. Take a leaf and lay it down so that the leaf curls towards you (not wrong side out)
7. Take a portion of meat and lay it in the leaf closest to the stem
8. Shape the meat into a long loaf. This will make it easy to roll
9. Now roll the leaf over once, tuck in the sides, and roll it over a second time
10. Be sure not to roll these too tight or they will pop during cooking!
11. Now that you have your rolls assembled, it’s time to get them in the dutch oven.
12. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
13. Line the bottom of the dutch oven with a few failed cabbage leaves
14. Sprinkle on half of the onion slices
15. Spoon half the crushed tomatoes over the top and season with salt and pepper
16. Layer half of the rolls (Usually 5-6 can fit nicely) and top them with the other half of the sliced onions and crushed tomatoes
17. Season again with salt and pepper
18. Now pour in the beef stock plus a little water if needed in order to JUST submerge the cabbage rolls. You will notice that they will float. Kind of annoying, but there is no avoiding this which is why we check these babies in 1 hour.
19. Cover with a tight lid and put in the oven for 1 hour
20. Once the timer goes off, take the pot out and check the rolls. You’ll notice they have floated to the top! Pour in a bit more stock or water to submerge them again and cook for another hour. If you can’t submerge them the second time, very gently rotate the rolls at the top to ensure that they don’t dry out. You want to make sure the rice gets cooked too.
21. They’re finished! I know it took 2 hours but believe me, it was worth it!
22. Gently plate a few stuffed cabbage rolls and spoon over some broth. Enjoy!