German-style Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This dish is traditional for some, on New Year's, and although it's not part of our yearly tradition, it was delicious!  We'll be making it again...with tweaks.

The *original recipe is not Paleo/Primal or AIP compliant, and I needed to tweak it quite a bit...so here is my version!  (AIP with my successful reintroductions, I mean...eggs, seeds...)

You can add tomato sauce if you wish, and some do, but nightshades are off my plate, it appears!  No problem, we loved it anyway.  You can also serve it with mustard, and use almost any combination of meats.  I used ground beef and ground pork. 

Ingredients:

    Cabbage for Rolls:

    1  medium head cabbage
    1 to 2 teaspoons salt
    
    For the Meaty Filling:
    12 ounces ground beef 

    same of ground pork

    1 large egg
    1/3 cup crushed chiciarrones (our usual substitute for bread crumbs, but if gluten or grain's not a problem for you...)

    1 T. gelatin (optional, but helps make up for the lack of gluten)
    1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I omitted paprika--nightshade!)
    1 teaspoons salt
    1 teaspoons dried marjoram
    1 T. maple sugar
    1-2 T. apple cider vinegar
    1 T. Worcestershire sauce (I make the AIP version)

    Black pepper to taste
    1 to 2 strips bacon or 2 T. bacon grease
    2 cups beef or vegetable broth (or your home made bone broth)

    Extra!

    1 jar or can of German style or home made sauerkraut

    For the Sauce:
    1 tablespoon cassava flour

Prepare the Cabbage

Peel old discolored leaves from the outside of the head of cabbage.

Using a sharp knife, cut the core (stem) out of the cabbage, leaving a cone-shaped hole.

Place the cabbage head in a large pot and add a few inches of water, enough to steam it well.  Add a teaspoon or two of salt. Bring the water to a boil, put on a lid, lower the heat, and steam for several minutes.

Let it cool!

Peel the outer leaves off, carefully, trying not to tear them, and drain. You can always return the cabbage to the pot to steam more if the inner leaves don’t want to come apart. 

I actually made one more little roll for a total of 8 in all...

I love my square iron pan for browning...I browned 4 at a time to avoid crowding.

Make the Filling and Form the Rolls 

 While the cabbage water is steaming or cooling, mix the chopped meat with the egg and other ingredients.  Make into 8-10 log shaped rolls (about 1/3 C. mixture for each roll.

Lay out a cabbage leaf as flat as you can and cut out the thickest vein (only 1/3 of the way up the leaf) to make it easier to roll the leaf. Place a meat roll in the thinner portion of the leaf.

Fold the roll on three sides, then roll to the thickest part (like a burrito).

Tie it like a gift package (in quarters) with kitchen string or, in a pinch, regular thread.

Cooking

Brown the cabbage rolls on two sides in the bacon fat.  Move to Dutch oven or deep pan.

Add sauerkraut (and any leftover vegetables you want...I had some cooked cauliflower and threw it in too.

Add broth (or enough to cover the pan to a depth of 1/2 inch), cover the pan with a lid and simmer 40 to 50 minutes, adding more of the remaining beef broth as necessary.

Transfer the cabbage rolls to a warm serving dish and snip off the string.

Add the cassava flour to the remaining juices in the pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Pour over cabbage rolls. Top with reserved bacon bits, mustard, ketchup, or whatever you desire!

Delicious the next day, too!

* Adapted wildly from https://www.thespruceeats.com/

 

Cincinnati Chili, Starving Artists in the Kitchen Style

Yummy!

Traditionally,  Cincinnati Chili is served over spaghetti, but since we're wheat-free we act like barbarians and skip that layer.  There are any number of recipes and approaches, some juicier, some thicker, some using different ingredients, but cinnamon and chocolate are constants.


My friend Ann Emmert Abbott says in Cincinnati you pick which restaurant to go to depending on which variant you're hungry for!

So here's my version, put together to taste and from several different recipes...let me know if there's anything YOU consider absolutely essential.

Ingredients

            3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or high quality light)
            2 finely chopped onions
            4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
            3 pounds ground beef (or lamb, bison, or venison–we had grass fed beef)
            1 T. Sea salt, more or less, to taste
            2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
            2 tablespoons chili powder (Joseph makes his own, the recipe is in this post.)
            1 ½ teaspoons cumin (more or less to taste.  I probably put 1 ½ tablespoons instead)
            1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
            1 ½  teaspoons ground cinnamon
            1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (more or less, to taste)
            1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (couldn’t find mine so J. ground fresh...)
            2 tablespoons cocoa powder or finely chopped, unsweetened baker's chocolate
            1 teaspoon paprika  (I used smoked...)
            1 tablespoon dried oregano (we had organic Mexican)
            1 tablespoon organic sugar (or brown sugar)    (optional)   
            1 can organic cup tomato sauce
            1 can organic diced tomatoes (or your own, if you have them)   
            2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
            1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce       

Top with grated cheese of your choice–cheddar, Parmesan, 4-cheese, goat cheese, whatever...and raw chopped onions if you like.
      
Many recipes call for beans, but I skip them because of the lectins.  I gave up wheat 4 years ago and never looked back–just felt so much better!–but lots of people DO consider it blasphemy if you don't serve this over spaghetti.



Directions

I decided to finish this in the crock pot, but if you prefer it can be a one-pot dinner.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and the garlic and cook until soft, stirring, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook the mixture, stirring, until the beef is no longer pink, breaking up the large chunks.

I moved the cooked onions to the crock pot...

Break up the ground beef and cook till it's all brown...

 

We go for organic if we buy in the store...IF it's available!  Sometimes we have our own garden-grown stuff...

 

Add the chili powder, paprika, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, cayenne and cloves. Cook, stirring, until fragrant. about 5 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon salt.


Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, bay leaf and 1 1/2 cups water–you can rinse out the tomato can and use that. simmer the mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thicker. Add the chocolate, vinegar and Worcestershire and cook until the mixture is thickened but still soupy, about 15 more minutes.

Hershey's was fine, but I would use the fancier organic stuff if I had it...

At this point I transferred everything to the crock pot, covered it and put it on low heat for a few hours.

To serve, discard the bay leaf and season the chili with the freshly ground pepper. Top with cheese and chopped onion.

We don't eat wheat, so J. made zucchini noodles to put under the chili.  Darn good, and no, it is NOT blasphemy!  Besides we keep trying to eat more vegetables...

Topped with a 4-cheese blend and plain yogurt instead of sour cream...absolutely delicious.