This is a fairly simple Polish comfort food...you Russians out there will know this also.
Ingredients below, i am use to large crowds, so i will cut it down to the best of my abilities .
We will use 1 lb on the beef and use that as out portion and mix bar.
1 lb of Lean ground beef, 93 or better..
1/2 Lb of lean pork....have butcher grind trimmed chops for you if the ground available is fatty ( 2 to 1 beef/pork)
2 decent size heads of cabbage....you will be rolling this so only the larger leaves are of use
Butter
1 large white onion
1/2 cup of white rice
Garlic...elephant ear if you have access, smaller cloves will work just as well
Sea salt
Black pepper. ..fresh crack preferred, shaker pepper will be fine.
2 cans Condensed tomato soup
1 can tomato juice...not V 8 please
Apple Cider vinegar
Scallions
Get a large pot of water boiling, should be salted but not necessary, the whole cabbage will be going in this water so make sure the pot is big enough.....water displacement should have attention paid to it
Core the cabbage, cut at least 4 inches deep and remove the hard white core.....now drop that puppy in the boiling water, should float the core side up......as the cabbage begins to blanch you can hit the white with some tongs and knock the leaves off exposing the ones below. ..this will speed this process up, once 8 to 12 leaves have come free you can remove the rest of the now small cabbage and set aside.
Let the leaves in the water to boil untill the white spine is flexible and can be rolled, once this happens remove and set aside to drain untill you finish the other cabbage.
In a small pot bring one cup of water to a boil, add the 1/2 cup of rice...lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes. ...set aside
In a medium saucepan or skillet melt 4 tablespoons of butter on high heat,add the one large WHITE onion diced medium, just sweat them a little....slightly translucent, a little soft shall we say......set aside
In a mixing bowl...add beef, pork ( salt & pepper to taste) one elephan ear garlic clove, or 4 of the smaller variety, finely minced or garlic press, the onions and butter, and the rice.
Now....lets get knuckle deep in this, use the black pepper or the onions as your guage here, when you start to see an even distribution of the pepper and or onions you should be good....dont want to overwork the meat y'all
Remember all those cabbage leaves from earlier? They come into play right here...start with the largest first.
Lay the leaf with the inside up, if you didn't blanch enough and the wite rib is still a little stiff...smack it lightly with the handle of s butter knife against the grain a few times....she will soften enough to roll.
Fill the inside of the leaf with the meat mixture, do not over fill, keep them kinda consistent for cooking purposes.
Starting with the thick spine end you will roll this up like a burrito, at about a roll and a half bring the ends in and wrap over them to make a neat little cabbage package...place in a baking pan with the flap down so it wont unroll during cooking 13 x 9, glass or metal does not matter...repeat untill all leaves are used, or meat is gone
Slice the green end of your scallions, make neat little circles with em'
Now, the pan should be loaded, they can be double stacked if you needed to.
Mix the 2 cans of condensed tomato soup and the tomato juice, 1 tablespoon of the apple cider vinegar...dump this over the cabbage rolls in your pan and add the scallion geens across the top evenly, a pinch of salt and more black pepper goes here too.....cover this with foil and put in your 350 degree oven....after 40 minutes drop to 325.....cook another 30 at this temp, remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes to make removal easier....
A nice crusty baguette or french bread goes well
Now take those other 2 remaining cabbages, cut into wedges and fry it in some bacon grease till it browns, then toss the whole pan into a pot with a cup of water and simmer for 15 or 20.....add some balsamic vinegar to taste....sweet and sour cabbage....ghetto style
Enjoy,