Saturday, February 6, 2010

Stuffed Cabbage



I have to give credit to Sherry Gray for helping me make these the first time. I know I have probably changed some things that she has done, but that's what will make it a "Tuttle" recipe to pass on.
Ingredients
2 heads cabbage (three make it easier to find nice leaves, but you have leftovers)
FILLING
2 cups uncooked long grain rice, scalded
3 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb lean pork sausage (I prefer "Old Folks Sausage-Medium")
1 pound ground Veal
1 C onions, minced
1 C bell pepper minced
1 C celery minced
4 eggs, beaten -
1 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1 garlic clove, minced (1 Tb minced)
STEWING SAUCE
2 (28 ounce) cans canned diced tomatoes
2 (28 ounce) cans canned crushed tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice or V8
1 C minced onions
1 C minced bell pepper
1 C minced celery
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 lb bacon, cooked (I bake this in the oven on a cookie sheet till crispy, drain on a paper towel then crumble up)
2 lbs sausage, smoked
Directions
Core cabbage, heat in salt water in a large soup pot till leaves separate.
Remove each leaf and drain in colander or on a towel.
FILLING--(2nd ingredient group):
To scald rice: Heat a generous amount of water in a heavy pan that will hold the heat. Make sure that the water will be more than enough to cover the rice. Make sure the water is at a rolling boil, if rice is not scalded enough it will be crunchy! Add the 2 C of rice to boiling water, pull off the heat. Let stand for at least 5 minutes. Rinse with cold water, draining with sieve. Add rice to the rest of the filling ingredients in a very large bowl and mix well.
Now fill the cabbage leaves with filling mixture; folding leaves like a burrito. I'm a sissy and used an ice cream scoop, but the piggys were a bit too fat.
While husband is rolling pigs (ha), start cooking the stewing sauce in another pot.
STEWING SAUCE--(3rd ingredient group):
Mix group together, bring to a boil, then simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
TO ASSEMBLE:.
Line the roaster with: layer of pigs, sauce, sprinkle with left over cabbage cut up into chunks, sauce, layer of pigs, layer of sauce, cabbage, smoked sausage chunks and the rest of the sauce.
Set oven at 350°F.
Cover roaster, and once all comes to a kind of a boil-probably about an hour, reduce temperature to about 300°F so it doesn't boil over.
Cook about 2 more hours. It's actually taste better on the second day, so I make it ahead of time. The recipe is so large, I usually end up with zip lock bags full of piggys for a lazy day to put in the freezer.

Chicken Marsala

A dinner this good probably should have been served at a table. Sadly, we don't always use the table as you can see this plate presented on Tod's lap...He was impressed anyway and said "you need to take a picture"


Chicken Marsala and Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients
8 chicken breasts, boneless & skinless - Cut across so you have thin pieces
1 cup flour
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 teas Dried oregano
8 Tbsp oil
8 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cups Marsala wine
Procedures
  1. POUND chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap until about 1/4" thickness.
  2. COMBINE flour, salt, pepper and oregano in a mixing bowl. Dredge chicken pieces in the flour, shaking off any excess.
  3. HEAT 2 Tb oil and 2 Tb butter in a skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken breasts on medium heat for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly browned. Turn breasts over to cook other side. Set the chicken aside and continue to sear the outside of the remainder of chicken, adding oil and butter as needed. When all the chicken has been seared (or browned) then add mushrooms. Add Marsala wine around chicken pieces. If you want a stronger Marsala taste - which Tod does - I'll reduce 4C of Marsala to two cups before adding to chicken by simmering in a pot first.
  4. COVER and simmer for about 15 minutes or until chicken reads 180 degrees or higher.
  5. TRANSFER to serving plate.

To complete this "Olive Garden" style dinner, I would add the Roasted Potatoes. I put 6-8 potatoes (punctured) in the microwave, covered and hit the baked potato button. This quickly pre-cooks them. I then slice up the hot potatoes into chunks, place in a large zip-lock bag with a package of French onion soup mix, 1/4 C olive oil, 1 teaspoon rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and some chunky veggies like onions and bell peppers. Shake it all up, place on a cookie sheet and brown the potatoes and veggies in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Grilled Salmon with Zucchini Relish



Relish Ingredients:
1cup chopped zucchini
1/2cup chopped onion- red was best
1tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves or rosemary
4
1

tablespoons chopped bell pepper
small tomato diced
2tablespoons red wine vinegar
2
1/8
crushed garlic clove -or a teaspoon crushed garlic
teaspoon salt
1/4teaspoon pepper

Sauce Ingredients:
3tablespoons light butter, melted
2tablespoons chopped fresh basil or rosemary leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1tablespoon lemon juice


Salmon Ingredients:
4(6 ounces each) salmon filets

Combine all relish ingredients in medium bowl; mix well. Cover; refrigerate until serving time.

Make aluminum foil pan.

Stir together all sauce ingredients in small bowl. Brush both sides of salmon with sauce.

Place fish on grill in pan. Cover; grill, turning and brushing with sauce once, until fish flakes with fork (10 to 12 minutes). Serve with relish.


A version of this recipe was found on LandOLakes.com. This is with my changes and my picture. Very healthy and it was very tasty on a February day reminding me of a summer meal.