Pandemic Cuisine – Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

When word came out that we were going to have to hunker down in our homes for a few weeks in order to avoid the spread of Covid19 a wave of panic buying ensued. I’ll even admit to buying an extra pack of T.P…. you know, just in case.

Seriously though, when I went to buy enough groceries to see us through I headed right to the depression era vegetables. Potatoes, squash, onions and of course cabbage all seem to age well if stored properly and who knows how long this will go on. The problem then of course is what do you do with a cabbage?

I have tried on occasion to make cabbage rolls with limited success. It is a time consuming and somewhat tedious process. Prying leaves off of a head of cabbage is a workout in its own right. Likewise, while blanching, filling, rolling and baking are well and good, half the time the rice ends up under cooked. I was about to head down that road one more time when I remembered being at a hip restaurant that was serving “deconstructed something or other” and I thought AH HA!

So in the spirit of cooking with cabbage in these strange times, I give you my rendition of Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls. Realistically though if you have a favourite cabbage roll recipe there is no reason not to use it as the filling and then just bust a move and deconstruct! Cooked cabbage takes on an almost sweet flavour and when combined with the rice and sauce this dish is pretty damned good.

Pandemic Cuisine – Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

Course: MainCuisine: EuropeanDifficulty: Easy

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

Ingredients

• Tomato sauce (here’s a link to VegHead’s, go to protein packed sauce)

• 1 medium green cabbage chopped or shredded

• 2 medium carrots shredded

• 1 onion diced

• 1 cup of basmati rice

• 2 cups of vegetable stock

• 3 cloves of garlic crushed

• 1 cup of fresh, chopped parsley (roughly 8 tbsp. dried)

• 1 cup of fresh, chopped dill (roughly 5 tbsp. dried)

• 1 Tsp. salt

• Pepper to taste

Directions

• Prepare the tomato sauce or use one of your choice.
• In a large frying pan cook onion and garlic over medium/low heat until soft. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add stock and rice to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
• While the rice is cooking, add cabbage and carrot to the another, large frying pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Continue to stir occasionally until the cabbage becomes soft and translucent. Turn off heat and let stand.
• Add the onion and garlic mixture, herbs, salt and pepper to the rice and cook for 5 minutes over medium/low heat stirring frequently.
• Combine the cabbage/carrot mixture with the rice mixture. Stir and heat through.
• Serve hot smothered in tomato sauce.

Notes

• This should serve a 6 people depending on how hungry you all are after a day of watching Netflix.