1 post tagged “collard greens”
One of the comfort foods from my youth is stuffed cabbage -- several of my relatives made their own versions. I had some beautiful collard greens and decided to try to make my own vegetarian version.
ingredients:
several collard green leaves, stems cut
boca recipe crumbles
carrots
celery
cabbage
onions
garlic
lemon
salt & pepper
tomato sauce
red wine vinegar
sriracha
sugar
water
eggs
breadcrumbs
step one: start the stuffing
in a large pan, brown the fake meat and then add finely shopped onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and cabbage. season with salt & pepper, red chile flakes if you like. when soft, add some fresh lemon zest and lemon juice, turn down the heat, and cook the liquid out. then turn off the heat and let the whole mixture cool.
step two: prep the leaves
after cutting out the stems and the hard center part of the leaf, drop a bunch into boiling salted water. when the leaves become soft (but not overcooked), remove them from the water and shock them in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color.
step three: finish the stuffing
when the stuffing is cool, add a lot f breadcrumbs and two eggs. mix together briefly, not too much. let the mixture set for a few minutes.
step four: stuff!
spread out one of the leaves and pat it dry. add a small dollop of the stuffing towards the stem end. to roll, roll from the stem end over the stuffing, tuck the ends in, then roll up.
continue rolling up leaves and lay them seam side down in a roasting pan. save some leaves at the end for covering the dish.
step five: sauce
the sauce is key to the stuffed leaf. heat some olive oil in a sauce pot, add a bit of red wine vinegar and some garlic powder. then add some tomato sauce, some salt, pepper, sugar, and sriracha for heat and more acid.
step six: bake
to prep for baking, pour most of the sauce over the leaves. then, cover the whole thing with the reserved leaves. these will help protect the rolls from burning in the oven, and to help them steam.
pour the remaining sauce over those leaves, and then bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
step seven: remove
when you remove the pan from the oven it will look burned -- but remember, that's what the covering leaves were for. remove them and you should see the beautiful green leaves underneath. let cool then enjoy!
