Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a large pot of water and bring to a boil. With 1 LARGE Head of Cabbage, trim 1” off the bottom of the cabbage and then dig out about 1.5” cone shape from the bottom center core with a sharp knife, removing some of the core. Add the entire head to a large pot of boiling water. (i used a lid turned upside down to hold the cabbage under the boiling water or use tongs to press it down) Boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and remove cabbage from the water, place in a colander and set aside to drain & cool. Now make the red sauce (recipe below) then set aside.

Filling:

1lb Jennie O’ Ground Turkey Sausage

1lb Jennie O’ Ground Turkey

2 Cups Cooked Rice

1/2 Sweet Yellow Onion finely chopped

2 Cloves Garlic minced

2 Eggs (i use egg white only)

1 Tsp Salt(i usually omit)

1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

3 T Fresh Parsley finely chopped

Small pinch of cayenne pepper

Remove sausage from skin, mix in all the other ingredients, mash with a potato masher to combine and set aside. Now cut cool to the touch cabbage leaves, see assembly below.

Sauce:

3 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3/4 C Sweet Yellow Onion finely chopped

1 Clove Garlic minced

2 15oz Tomato Sauce

1 15oz Crushed Tomatoes

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

1 T Agave Nectar

1 Tsp Salt(i usually omit)

1/2 Tsp Black Pepper

Heat Oil, add onion, sweat for 3-5 mins, add garlic and saute for another minute or two, add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer for 15 mins. Turn off heat, set aside to cool. Now make the filling.

Assembly:

Once the cabbage leaves are cool, gently remove 12 leaves leaf by leaf(sometimes its easier to loosen a few leaves together at a time and peel them off all together. Remove the leaves starting at the base, stack them on a board. Take a leaf from the stack and lay on a cutting board, with a sharp knife, cut a v-shape incision at the base of each leaf to remove the bottom part, the tough rib. Add 4-5 T of filling (depending on the size of the leaves) onto the leaf. Fold the left side inwards, then the right side inwards. Then starting at the base of the leaf roll it up and set aside, placing seam side down. Repeat all steps for the remaining leaves. Freeze any leftover filling or make into burger for lunch tomm :)

For Baking:

Spray a 9X13” baking dish, add half of the tomato sauce to the bottom of the pan. Place the rolls seam side down in the pan, then cover with the remaining tomato sauce. Cover with foil and place in a 350 degree oven for 75 minutes OR until the inside temp reads 165, check after 60mins. (check every roll for 165 internal temperature!) Remove foil for the last 10-15 mins. Serve with a side salad. Can be topped with grated parmesan and any warmed left over red sauce or sauce of your choice. Enjoy!