Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Stuffed Food is Mighty Tasty


What's better than really good food?

Try really good food, stuffed with more really good food.

Case in point:


Chocolate cookies stuffed with peanut butter (Please pass me one. Or five.)

Stuffed Sweet Potato Pockets (I need more of these in my life).

Today: Vegetarian Stuffed Cabbage, adapted from a Moosewood Collective Recipe.

Mind. Blowing. Check out the unique variety of ingredients loaded into this baby:
  • Savory: onion, bell pepper, carrot, soy sauce
  • Sweet: apple, honey, raisins (yes!)
  • Crunchy: toasted walnuts
  • Awesome: ricotta cheese
A family friend passed this recipe along to me, which he located in an old Moosewood Cookbook. I'm super grateful. Because they're super good. We enjoyed ours tonight with a simple side salad.

What's your favorite "stuffed" food?

Stuffed Cabbage

These guys are nothing like the traditional salty, meaty stuffed cabbage. The sweetness of the honey, apple, and raisins balance beautifully with the soy sauce, veggies, and crunchy walnuts. You could serve yours on a bed of rice, but who needs rice when you've got delicious food, stuffed with more delicious food?

Ingredients:
  • 1 head of cabbage
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 apples, diced
  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
  • One 15 oz. container of part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 1 TBSP honey
  • 2 TBSP reduced-sodium soy-sauce
  • ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a baking pan with cooking spray.

2) In a large pot of water, pre-boil cabbage until just tender, about 10 - 15 minutes. Drain and remove 6 - 8 large leaves for stuffing.

3) Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, apple, carrot, and garlic. Saute until softened and lightly browned--about 8 - 9 minutes.

4) In a large bowl, combine the vegetable mixture with the ricotta, toasted walnuts, honey, soy sauce, and pepper.

5) Spoon the filling (about 1/4 cup) into each individual cabbage leaf and wrap tightly. Place seam-side down on baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 - 18 minutes.

13 comments:

  1. ummm yum!!!!! This looks so good!

    xo

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  2. I think I'm supposed to pay attention to the cabbage. But the cookies are such a distraction :)

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  3. I just managed to get Marcus on board with stuffed peppers. He claims not to like cabbage but I think with enough sauce (or some meat and cheese) he'll never know the difference ;)

    For moi? That veggie recipe looks just lovely!

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  4. Yumm I've been wanting to make stuffed peppers for awhile, but this is a pretty good case for stuffed cabbage!

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  5. The cabbage is such an underappreciated veggie. I love cabbage but I never use it much because I no one else seems to really be a fan. And cabbage soup is lame and about the only cabbage recipe I can usually find haha I'll have to give this one a try! :)

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  6. My grandpa was known for his cabbage rolls, which were of course stuffed with ground meat. Now since I can't have that kind anymore, I know where to turn! I like how they're stuffed with such interesting ingredients rather than something faux-meaty. Yum!

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  7. I am all about stuffed food...how can you not love things like stuffed bell peppers or stuffed strawberries? And I also love cabbage...so you know I was happy about this recipe! Thank you for sharing. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday night!

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  8. this looks great! i love quesadillas :) does that count as stuffed?

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  9. I don't think I've ever had stuffed cabbage before, but I do love anything that has to do with Moosewood!

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  10. Ooh, I've never had stuffed cabbage! It almost always has meat in it when I see it on menus.

    I like spanikopita, which I see you've also posted a recipe for!

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  11. omg, thank you for sharing this recipe! It looks phenomenal!I really can't wait to try it!

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  12. ps. just wrote down the recipe and i think you left out garlic..how much should we use?

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  13. Erin--Thank you for catching that! I just added the garlic into the ingredient list--about 3 cloves will do the trick :)

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