Recipe: Cajun Cabbage Rolls

My friend Sharon in Lafayette introduced me to stuffed cabbage rolls a few years ago.  I had never tried them before until she brought some into work.  They have great flavor, nice texture, and as long as you use a leaner meat for the stuffing, they’re quite healthy!

Well, the hubs bought a head of cabbage the other day, so I finally had an opportunity to try them out for myself!

 

 

There are a couple different methods of cooking cabbage rolls, but I went with the stovetop, rather than the oven.  Cooking times are about the same, but if you use the stovetop, you don’t have to cook your rice before hand, so that saves some prep time.

 

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage

1 lb ground lean pork sausage (or spicy turkey sausage)

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

1 tbsp parsley

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cajun seasoning

1 cup uncooked brown rice

1 jar (23 oz) pasta sauce

water

 

Directions:

Remove the core from the cabbage head and then place the cabbage head in the microwave to steam for 5-6 minutes.  Peel the larger outer leaves off the head of the cabbage (8-10 leaves).  The inner leaves will probably be too small to roll up.

Mix sausage, onions, celery, pepper, parsley, garlic, salt & pepper, seasoning, and rice together in a large bowl:

 

Then scoop about 2 tbsp of the mix into the base (thicker) part of the leaf, fold in the sides, and roll up.

 

(Fold base over on top of mixture…)

(Fold sides in…)

(Then roll & place a toothpick through the roll to hold it together.)

Place the rolls in a large pot, nestling them tightly together.

Place the pot on a burner, add pasta sauce, and enough water so that the sauce barely covers the rolls (to make sure they cook evenly).  Heat over medium-high until it starts to boil, then lower to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 1.5 hours.  The sauce will thicken as it cooks.

Before:

After 1.5 hours:

Serve with a light salad & enjoy!

Note: these are also great with a white cream sauce, in which case you cook them in chicken broth, then remove the rolls from the pot, and add sour cream & seasonings to the remaining broth.

Serves 4-5 (2 rolls per serving)

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 276.2

  Total Fat 4.1 g

  Saturated Fat 1.4 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g

  Cholesterol 56.0 mg

  Sodium 706.3 mg

  Potassium 231.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 35.2 g

  Dietary Fiber 7.8 g

  Sugars 13.7 g

  Protein 24.6 g