The Greek version of this warming winter dish has an elegant, velvety sauce- avgolemono ("egg-lemon"). As cabbage dishes go, it's pretty fancy. As fancy dishes go, it's pretty easy. Other virtues? It makes a lot, and, being mainly cabbage and rice, it makes a lot for rather little money. It keeps well, and I've never met anyone who really doesn't like it. It is delicious, if a little less hearty, as a vegetarian dish.
Most stuffed cabbage dishes involve boiling a cabbage to soften the leaves, and truthfully so does this one. I prefer using pickles cabbage leaves- it saves a lot of wet mess, and adds a tang that balances the richness of the meat and the velvety sauce.
We will need:
1 large fresh or pickled cabbage, or two jars of pickled cabbage leaves (available in stores that sell Russian and Eastern European foods)
1 big bunch of dill
1 big bunch of parsley
1 bunch scallions, or one large onion, or both
2 carrots
500 g/ 1 pound ground beef
2 C short grain rice
black pepper
1 or 2 tsp. salt. (If you are using a fresh cabbage, use 3 tsp.)
About 120 ml/1/2 C olive oil
Note: for a vegetarian version, skip the meat and add another carrot or two, a potato, a half of a fennel bulb- anything to give flavor and bulk- the potato makes a nice texture. Pulse these along with the herbs
For the sauce:
60 g/ 2 oz butter
60 g/ 1/2 C flour
2 lemons
2 eggs
If you are using a fresh cabbage, boil an enormous pot of water. Core the cabbage, cook it a little, peel off some outer leaves, and boil again to soften the inner leaves. Drain them all. You can cut the enormous ones in half. Save the water.
Take the fronds from the dill stems, the leaves from the parsley, the peeled onion or scallions, the peeled carrots, and put them in the food processor, pulsing until fairly fine. Blend this with the meat and the rice, add the oil and a generous amount of fresh ground pepper, and some salt.
The mixture holds together nicely if you are using meat, and makes these a snap to roll. Also, if you are using pickled cabbage leaves from a jar,they are already rolled and have a perfect shape for making a tight bundle.Put a couple of large spoonfuls of the rice mixture at one end, fold in the edges, and make a tidy, snug roll. It is easier than rolling up grape leaves. These will also be larger than grape leaves- perhaps three times as large.
Tale a large pot and place the rolls in, fitting them snugly but not tight.
Try to have them in as flat a layer as possible on top, and cover them completely with a the cabbage water or fresh water and some of the pickling brine from the jar. Put a plate or a lid from a smaller pot on the rolls to hold them in place. The liquid should cover the plate or lid as well. Cover the pot with its own lid, and put on medium low heat. After about a half an hour, check for water and keep checking- they absorb a lot and we want to end up with plenty of leftover liquid for the sauce.
A cousin says hers are ready in about 45 minutes. Mine take over an hour and a half, slowly. Take one out and cut into it, making sure the rice is tender through to the middle. You will see that the filling with the rice will have expanded, making for full, tight rolls.
The hardest part is pouring off the broth- it is a heavy pot, filled with now quite heavy rolls, You may need a hand-someone to hold them in place with the plate while someone else pours off the broth into a bowl. There should be 3 or 4 cups of liquid. Top it up with water or broth if you need to.
The sauce:
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and stir over medium heat until the paste loosens and sounds drier. The roux may take on some golden color. Add the broth all at once, whisking all the while, and keep whisking gently as it thickens and comes to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat.
Juice the lemons, beat the eggs, and add most of the juice. Very slowly, stirring all the while, add the hot sauce in spoonfuls to the egg/lemon mixture. Keep adding until you have incorporated almost half of the sauce, by which time it will have come slowly up to temperature. Add it back to the sauce in the pan, now off the heat. It may look like you have a lot of sauce. It's never too much. The sauce looks and tastes like tangy lemony rich velvet.
Serve the hot or warm, with the sauce, and with feta cheese.
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