Happy New Year Part 2 - Pressure Cooker Cabbage Rolls

Happy Tuesday!  Tomorrow I have to head back to work, but on this last day off of the holiday I wanted to share with you the second part of our New Years Day menu.  I have never, had a cabbage roll.  The recipes have popped up every now and then in my Pinterest feed but I've never made one or eaten one.

Welp, that changed on Sunday.  I wanted to try making them and wanted to shorten the cooking time by doing them in the pressure cooker.  The guys really liked them.  My husband thought it was a nice variation on meatloaf.... but that's a story for a different day.

When I bought the head of cabbage at the store, they were HUGEmongous.  Normally I would like to have had a smaller head of cabbage to make the rolls a little smaller, but I figured feeding men they wouldn't mind if the rolls were a little bigger, okay.... a LOT bigger.  My advice... find a smaller to medium head of cabbage.

When branching out on using my pressure cooker there are a couple of websites that I LOVE.  One of those is www.pressurecookingtoday.com.  Each time I've used one of their recipes it's been successful.  I used their recipe (and tweaked it, of course) for the cabbage rolls.

My tweaks and tips on the recipe were:

1. Enormous leaves of cabbage making rolls that were about 2 1/2 inches thick, and 4 inches long
2. I used brown rice (the recipe said you could use either brown or white)
1. You could prepare the rice in the pressure cooker
2. I used my Rice Cooker to prepare the rice while my beans were cooking
3. I used all beef (no pork)
4. I substituted apple cider vinegar in place of the white vinegar
5. I added additional finely diced (raw) cabbage to the filling
6. I used more Worcestershire Sauce
7. I used Chicken Broth in my pressure cooker to add more flavor
8. I did not use the cornstarch slurry to reduce the sauce, I simply simmered it to reduce 

The next time I make this I will add a few more herbs to the filling, more pepper and maybe a little crushed red pepper.  They are typical cabbage rolls and the flavor comes mostly from the beef and cabbage, a few herbs would brighten and take this recipe to the next level (some fresh oregano and thyme).

Here's what the finished product looked like (sorry for the shadow).... I served with a nice side salad and of course the Black-Eyed Pea & Sausage Soup.  The plates were clean, always a good sign.

-MamaFin

THE RECIPE: 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup brown rice, prepared
• 1 medium head cabbage
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 
  
• Sauce:
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (14 1/2 oz. each) cans diced tomatoes with their juice
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 4 beef bouillon cubes, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper (I used Penzeys Tellicherry Coarse Ground Black Pepper)
• 5-6 dashes Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions. Fluff with a fork and set the pan aside.
2. Fill a large deep pot half full of water. Bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Remove the core from the cabbage and place it, core side down, in the boiling water. Cover and let the head of cabbage boil for 7-8 minutes. Remove the softened outer leaves and place them on a plate to cool. Cover the pan and cook the cabbage for 6-8 minutes, checking and removing the outer leaves as they soften, placing them on the plate to cool. 
4. When you get down to the center of the cabbage and the leaves are too small for rolls, remove the cabbage from the heat, coarsely chop it and set it aside.
5. For the sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to turn light golden brown. Add the garlic and cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, bouillon, garlic powder, onion powder, Worcestershire (or black) pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well, taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove from the heat. Stir in some of the chopped cabbage (about 1 cup). Set the sauce aside.
6. For the filling, in a large bowl, beat the egg, then stir in the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cooked rice and chopped cabbage (about 1 cup). Add the ground beef and pork and mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until all the ingredients are well combined.
7. Lay one of the cabbage leaves flat on a work surface with the stem end in front of you. Take 2 generous tablespoonfuls of the filling and place it at the bottom of the cabbage leaf. Fold the 2 sides in and roll away from you, making sure filling stays in the center and away from the top edge, until you reach the top of the leaf.
8. Repeat with remaining leaves.  My cabbage head was large.  I got about 8 rolls.  If you have a smaller head you will probably get 12-15.  
9. Place the rack in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Pour in 1 cup chicken broth. Place one layer of rolls on the rack.   Spoon about 1/3 of the sauce over the rolls. Add a second layer of rolls to the pressure cooker, alternating the direction of the second layer. Pour an additional 1/3 of sauce over the rolls.  The remaining sauce I used to spoon over the rolls for presentation.  After adding the last bit of sauce, take a plastic spatula and gently go around the outer edge of the rolls to allow some of the sauce to drip down around the rolls. 
10. NOTE:  Make sure not to overfill the pressure cooker. It's easy enough to cook these in 2 batches, if necessary.
11. Lock the lid in place, Cook at high pressure for 18 minutes, then a quick release.  I temp checked the rolls to ensure doneness with a meat thermometer as my rolls were large.  
12. Gently remove the cabbage rolls from the pressure cooker to a platter. (I found tongs work well for this)
13. Reduce the remaining sauce either in the pressure cooker, or on the stovetop.
14. Serve the sauce over the cabbage rolls.   

Adapted from Pressure Cooking Today - Original Recipe: 
 http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-stuffed-cabbage-rolls/