Spiral Stuffed Cabbage
Spiral Stuffed Cabbage is the kind of recipe that makes people stop mid-bite and ask, “Wait… what is this?” It looks dramatic, it's deeply comforting, and somehow feels both old school and totally fresh. This is my reimagined take on classic stuffed cabbage, rolled into one big, beautiful spiral that slices like a dream and feels special enough for Sunday dinner but cozy enough for a weeknight.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 1 savoy cabbage head
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion minced
- 2 celery ribs minced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- Pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- ¼ cup red wine or sweet vermouth
- 1 tsp thyme chopped
- 2 cups tomato puree (Tomato Passata)
- ½ lb ground turkey or beef
- ½ lb uncased pork or chicken sausage
- 1 cup brown rice cooked
- 3 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 1 egg
- ½ cup grated parmigiano reggiano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Place a large head of Savoy cabbage in the freezer overnight. Remove the cabbage from the freezer, place it in a bowl, and allow it to defrost. Once defrosted, peel off the leaves gently and trim away the thick base so they are easy to roll.Note: An alternative method would be to par-boil the leaves to make them pliable enough to roll.
- To a 10-inch, oven-safe skillet, add the olive oil, onion, celery, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the onion and celery are translucent.
- Mix in the tomato paste, add the red wine (or sweet vermouth), thyme, and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook for 2 more minutes to let the alcohol burn off.
- Make the sauce. Remove ½ of the veggies and set aside to cool. To the pan with the remaining veggies, add the tomato puree and ½ cup of water. Bring to a low simmer and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove ½ of the sauce and set aside.
- Make the stuffing. To a large bowl, add the ground beef, the sausage, brown rice, parsley, egg, grated parmigiano, remaining salt, and the cooked veggies that were set aside. Use your hands to mix the ingredients.
- Stuff the cabbage leaves. To create the spiral stuffed cabbage, slightly overlap 4 cabbage leaves. If your cabbage leaves are extremely big, you can use 3 leaves. Line one side of the cabbage with some of the meat filling (see image above). The line of filling should be about an inch thick. Then, tuck in the ends like you would a burrito and roll the cabbage around the filling to create a log. Turn the log inward to create a coil. (See image above). Place the first coil in the center of the pan with the sauce. Continue to layer, stuff, and roll the leaves, but do not coil. Instead, wrap each "log" around the center coil until the pan is full.Note: If you prefer stuffing and rolling each leaf, feel free to do so.
- Brush the top of the spiral cabbage with the reserved sauce and bake in the oven for 60 minutes on the middle rack.
- Then dive on in!! So seriously addicting!
Nutrition
Calories: 480kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 938mg | Potassium: 1189mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 2408IU | Vitamin C: 63mg | Calcium: 177mg | Iron: 4mg
