“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all” ~ Harriet Van Horne
Rainy, cool, dark days like this I find myself seeking these creature comfort foods. But then with my European upbringing any excuse is a good one for cooking. 🙂
Ive done regular cabbage rolls which are pretty much the same as this but as everyone knows it’s quite a tedious undertaking to make them. And really of course the casserole tastes just as great and is the same thing with a whole lot less fuss and muss.
You can easily modify this to not be the vegetarian version if you prefer; however I certainly can’t advise how to do a gluten-free option. As a rule I eat gluten-free as much as possible just simply because I can and I feel so much better. However I had the ingredients for this in the house and didn’t even think until after the fact I should’ve maybe looked up a gluten-free option on-line. Note to self to do so. lol
None the less I’ve made this dish several times before and love it as I hope you will! The Quinoa really adds a great taste to it and it’s so much lighter than using rice. And I love the fact that it freezes really well if there are leftovers and I actually did this recipe as an over sized batch so that I could freeze it. It was done in a larger oval roaster. (15 pound one) Keep in mind as well when you choose your roasting pan that you need it large enough to accommodate all the cabbage that goes in last.
The ingredients below are what I prefer but you can certainly mix it up and play with it. Also I apologize a not all ingredients are in the picture ( I got multi-tasking…imagine that!) So please refer more to the list than the picture.
So here we go….
Ingredients
- I large head of white cabbage (5 lb)
- 2 large sweet onions – chopped
- 2 dozen cap mushrooms
- 2 packages textured vegetable protein (meatless hamburg)
- 2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- 5 zucchini sliced
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa (uncooked)
- 1 box vegetable stock
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- Garlic (to taste)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp crushed caraway seeds
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 bag small carrots – (or 4 regular garden carrots)
Prep Directions:
Cook 1 ½ cups quinoa as directed and when done set aside to cool.
Also if you are using real hamburger cook it and set aside as well. The vegetable protein is pre cooked so it does not require further prep for recipe.
Chop up head of cabbage in 1-2 inch cubes and rinse in colander and set aside.
.Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C)
Cooking Directions:
– In a Dutch oven or the roasting pan heat on medium setting 2 tbsp oil.
– Add sliced onions and cook until golden brown
– Add garlic and cook about 3 minutes
– Add sliced/diced carrots and zucchini until tender (about 15 minutes depending on size of batch you are making).
– Add thyme, caraway, oregano, salt and pepper
– Add mushrooms and continue to cook covered for 10 minutes.
– Add the vegetable protein and stir to mix ingredients up well.
– Pour in 1 can of the diced tomatoes and water and again mix well. (keep other can as you’ll use it later)
Now stir in the quinoa you had set aside: Should be about 5-6 cups of cooked quinoa.
If you have been doing this on the stove in a deep fry pan or haven’t already done this is the roasting pan now is the time to transfer the over to your oven ready dish.
Once transferred to your oven safe dish put the cabbage chunks on top of the mixture.
In a separate bowl mix the vegetable broth with the other can of diced tomatoes. Once you’ve mixed that up a bit you want to pour it over the entire dish but do not stir again.
If you find you like it less dense than just add more water or tomatoes. Just be careful not to water down.
Cover and cook at 350 for about an hour and a half; until cooked through and cabbage is tender.
Remove from oven and let cool for 15ish minutes.
Just a guesstimate, this makes about the equivalent of 24 cabbage rolls. As I say freeze them and you’re good to go for dinner for another evening or 2 or 3.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.!
