Stuffed Cabbage

Here it was...a very LARGE cabbage bought at the Hastings Cabbage and Potato Festival last Sat. It sat on my counter and stared at me for days....I finally did something with it!

                    I stuffed it!
                                      

isn't it beautiful...

 it took me forever to hallow it out! Once finished i began making the stuffing mixture...

 Once hallowed out i sauteed onion garlic and chopped cabbage till softened in olive oil and a bit of butter,  adding coarse S & P

  I browned ground round/beef and  added cooked rice to it

 then added some stewed tomatoes

 to that I added the sauteed onion, garlic, cabbage mixture

 I then put some beef broth in the bottom of the pan and set the hallowed cabbage in it (use a heavy baking pan w/a lid)

 the stuffing mixture ready to go... (i did add a dash of balsamic vinegar to add some punch)

 the stuffing process....

 It's finally stuffed and topped with mozzarella and a bit of parmesan

 and ready for the oven... i did stuff a bit of butter down in the outer leaves and poured a bit of the broth over all of it.

 I saved one of the outer leaves to top the cabbage for fun

 I cooked it at 375 for 1 and 1/2 hours this one being so large needed a bit longer for the cabbage to soften completely... cover it and let it cook away...

 finished cooking and ready to eat...

serving it up was another matter...I ended up slicing it with my serrated bread knife and serving it like you would a piece of pie.

Because it was such a large cabbage I should have cooked it at least 15 to 20 min longer...

Serve it with a nice salad and a baguette and you will have a wonderful meal.

one more thing.....there was left over stuffing mix that I put in a separate casserole dish and topped with the remainder of cheese to use for a later meal.

bon appétit