Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Galumpkis) 

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce:

2 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

1 tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar

2 Bay Leaves

2 Sprigs fresh Thyme

1/4 cup Green pepper (diced)

1/4 cup Celery (diced)

1/4 cup Yellow Onion (diced)

2-28oz. cans of Whole tomatoes

1-28oz. can of Tomato puree

1 tbsp. Tomato Paste

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

1 tbsp. Sugar

Salt & Pepper

1 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef

1 lb. Ground Pork

1 large Egg

1/4  Cup Yellow Onion (diced)

2 Cloves Garlic (finely chopped)

2 tbsp. Tomato Paste

1 1/2 Cups White rice (cooked)

1 tbsp. Fresh Parsley (chopped)

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

2 large Head of Green Cabbage

1/2 Cup of reserved Tomato Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Sauce:

Over medium heat add olive oil to a 4 quart saucepan.  Add onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic and sauté for 4 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients to the saucepan and bring sauce to a simmer.  Continue simmering for 30 minutes, stirring frequently while also making an effort at breaking apart the whole tomatoes.  Remove from the heat, discard thyme sprigs, and season with salt and pepper.           

           Cabbage Rolls:

            Place a skillet over medium heat and add olive oil.  Add onion and garlic to pan and sauté until tender.  Add tomato paste and ½ cup of reserved tomato sauce and stir to combine.  Remove pan from the heat and set to the side to cool.  In a large bowl add ground meat, egg, cooked rice, and parsley.  Using your hands thoroughly combine ingredients.  Add sauté onion and garlic mixture and a liberal amount of salt and pepper and again mix.

            Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.   Remove the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife.  Place whole cabbages in the boiling water.  Using tongs carefully peel cabbage leaves from the head as it simmers (wait approximately 1 minute between each leaf removal).  Place removed blanched leaves to a colander to drain, continue process until all of the leaves have been removed.  After cabbage leaves have cooled and excess water has been drained off, you will need to separate the outer dark green leaves from inner lighter green leaves.  Take the large dark green outer leaves and place on the bottom of your casserole dish, allowing the leaves to hang out of the sides of dish.  These leaves will be used to insulate your cabbage rolls and prevent them from burning.  Take remaining whole leaves and remove any large center veins (this will make it easier to stuff).  To make rolls lay a cabbage leaf out flat and place a ½ cup of the ground meat mixture in the center, then fold over left and right sides then roll up the cabbage to enclose filling.  Place cabbage rolls side by side in casserole dish and then spoon over 2/3 of the remaining sauce reserving the other 1/3 for serving.  Fold over outer green leaves to keep cabbage rolls moist.  Place in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake until meat is cooked (approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes). Remove from oven and serve with remaining tomato sauce.