Golabki Golubsty Krautwickel Toltott Kaposzta Sarma - Slow Food Saturday

Golabki Golubsty Krautwickel Toltott Kaposzta Sarma or my own Red Cabbage Rolls on another slow food Saturday.

Fascinating how so many European countries have their own version of cabbage rolls - some use pork & veal mince, some just pork mince, others beef mince & some quite an amazing combination of meats. Some add breadcrumbs, others cooked rice or risoni pasta. Some use passata, others tomato puree, tomato juice, tomato soup or no tomato at all.

Cabbage can be overlooked compared with its cousins Asian bok choy & Italian cavolo nero - but it is just so good for slow food.

In fact when I checked my cooking library & the web,  I found so much diversity in styles.

I loved the look of the Polish Golabki and the Italian Pork & Tomato Cabbage Rolls on www.Taste.com

My really lovely book of German Cooking from Hahndorf I brought back from a trip to Australia's Barossa Valley has Krautwickel. I found another version of Krautwickel in an old Country Style magazine. I had been surprised to discover that Krautwickel does not contain tomatoes in the sauce.

Many are distinctly tomato-ey - although the "Family Circle Microwave Cookbook" is more sauerkraut & less tomato.

The Hungarian Toltott Kaposzta on the SBS site features sauerkraut - again no tomatoes. I really want to try out the Croatian Sarma - also from SBS's foodie site - but I need to save that for a really really slow Saturday.

Then there are the Golubsty in the beautiful "The Delights of Russian Cuisine" that I discovered at the Brisbane Expo. It is tomato-ey with carrots in the tomato sauce.

AWW's "New Casserole Cookbook" version has a more Moroccan feel - like the version on their web page - whilst their "Country Cooking" features an Italian version with prosciutto, parmesan, white wine & risoni pasta. Then there's another Italian version on www.Taste.com with chargrilled capsicum & basil leaves. Julie Stafford's Cabbage Rolls in her "Taste of Life from the Microwave" are also Moroccan-like

I've even seen a Greek version somewhere ...

Anyway I decided to do an improv - I had run out of green cabbage leaves - so decided to try the red cabbage I had in the fridge - but I had never seen red cabbage rolls anywhere before to be honest - and whilst it started out as one of those "take a can of soup" style - it certainly diverged. My significant other even queried had I decided to do "special" cabbage rolls with the red cabbage. I wondered what colour the dish would end up given the combination of tomato & red cabbage. It emerged to be a deep rich colour - almost identical to the colour of the Pokerface 2008 Cabernet Merlot.

• 6-12 large cabbage leaves - red or green - depending on preference - steamed for about 5 minutes then cooled - need to be tender enough to roll but not too soft either
• 500 gm pork & veal mince
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 6 spring onions sliced finely
• 1 445 can tomato soup - Heinz "Big Red Spicy Tomato" is best - but will need to add water during cooking to prevent dryout & burning
• 1 tbspn lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• few grinds of black pepper
• shake of sweet paprika, marjoram, caraway seeds & dried parsley
• toothpicks
• extra water
• dill

1. Combine all ingredients except cabbage leaves, lemon juice & tomato soup - mix well
2. Take 1/3 cupful's or amount to fit neatly into each cabbage leaf when rolled up - roll up - secure with toothpick(s)
3. Place small cooked unused cabbage leaves in base of greased casserole dish
4. Pack cabbage rolls in layers on top of cabbage leaves
5. Add tomato soup to top carefully & then sprinkle in lemon juice
6. Cover & place in oven set at 180oC - cook for 1 - 1/2 hours
7. After first 20-30 minutes - check to see if too dry - add extra water if necessary - spoon sauce over cabbage rolls
8. Repeat after 60 minutes.
9. Can be served sprinkled with dill & crusty bread - we had Ciabatta.

And lots of leftovers for those frantic after work dinners next week

I might just keep on using the red cabbage leaves in future.

 

Posted via web from KerrieAnne's Kitchen

A Tess Mallos Slow Food Easter Weekend - Garithes and Pastitio

I love the Easter holiday long weekend in Australia - cool weather kicking in and the chance to do some slow food with out the pressures of the usual weekends.

Good Friday had kicked off with my Significant Other doing his speciality Garithes me Feta (& Tomatoes) from Tess Mallos's legendary Greek Cookbook . In fact this dish is not really a slow food item - but is so very yum. David drew his inspiration from Yorgies - the long since departed restaurant from Coledale - where the hugely popular Chedo's is located (Chedo is the husband of TV reporter Stella Laurie who can be seen waiting at tables after she's driven back from the Sydney TV studios !)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

For our family Easter Sunday Night Dinner I had planned Prosciutto, Basil & Boconncini bites as starters - to be followed by Tuscan Bean Soup with Crusty Cob Bread from one of our local Thirroul Vietnamese Bakeries.

As mains I settled on Pastitio from Tess Mallos's Greek Cookbook - which is quite similar to the Rick Stein version used by Almost Bourdain in her recent blog post - h. This is one of my favourite foodie blogs & I like her foodie pics - blogger's pics. It's nevertheless probably a little more stylish than the foodie blogs over at Jamie Oliver's web page - which have an honesty about them. In fact I think that's great when you consider Jamie's Ministry of Food campaign to get folks back to home cooking.

On Sunday nights I usually do Mains & Nan brings along a dessert - this Sunday she also brought along one of our nephews - who was at a lose end with the rest of his family interstate or overseas.

I quickly discovered that the Prosciutto, Basil & Boconncini Bites (from Australian Gourmet Traveller - Feb 2001) were going to be Greek Style with Haloumi when Saffron's, our local Deli in Thirroul, had already run out of baby Bocconcini - as I had Haloumi in the fridge They are so easy - take a strip of prosciutto and place a small piece of Baby Boconcini or Haloumi on it - follow with a basil leaf (our's are fresh from our garden) - then a quarter of artichoke heart. Roll up and secure with toothpick. I did about a dozen and let them sit in the fridge until later (Pic 3). They can be either grilled - but I was going to bake them with the Pastitio - checking every 3 to 4 minutes and turning a couple of times. They need to be warmed through but I don't like them crispy.

Having done the Bites I moved onto the Tuscan Bean Soup - from the Oz Family Circle Magazine - a few years back. Such a shame that one of the older Oz foodie mags is no longer available as a monthly mag - but sometimes there are still special winter & Christmas editions. Chopping 2 onions, 1 carrot, 2 celery sticks & 2 zucchini. Finally heating 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil ( I used less than the 3 specified) and sauteing all the veges, except the zucchini, along with 2 bay leaves from the small bay tree in a pot outside our backdoor, as well as some shakes of dried sage. Then throwing in the zucchinis as well as a 400g diced Tomatoes along with a drained & rinsed can each of Borlotti Beans & Canneloni Beans (400g each) (Pic 1). Then simmering for about 20-30 minutes.

I then onto the Pastitio. I had cheated & done a huge meat sauce a couple of days earlier - reserving some for tonight's Pastitio. Likewise with the macaroni. So it was fairly easy to assemble the pasta & meat sauce layers - although I had to separate the individual pieces of cooked macaroni that always seem to clump together when you store them in the fridge. Pastitio is similar to Lasagne - however the Bechamel Sauce is a lot lighter - as it doesn't have the cheese like in Lasagne. With the Bechamel almost done I discovered that I should have added 1/2 cup to the meat sauce before I had topped it with the second of the pasta layers - oops - too late. So I just poured the Bechamel over the pasta - hoping for the best (Pic 2).

At this point I decided that we really needed a tossed salad - so sweetly asked David would he mind throwing one together - his are usually better than mine anyway. I handed him a couple of fresh basil leaves from our vegie garden. The salad smelled so good (Pic 4), and included black olives from the tree in our front garden which we had home pickled. 

We gobbled up the Prosciutto Basil & Haloumi Bites & loved Tuscan Bean Soup - always a favourite - although as usual it really tasted better the next day - note to self - do this a day or two in advance next time.

Then a longish break before the Pastitio was ready (Pic 5) - you have to leave it for 5-10 minutes before cutting & serving - the same as you do with Quiche & Lasagne. I served it at the table with the tossed salad as my tiny kitchen had filled up with the dishwasher already running - and so I was running out of space to plate up. The Red Wine ? Tatler's Archie's Paddock Shiraz (Pic 6) that I had picked up on a recent trip to the Hunter with the nephew's parents - it really complemented the Pastitio. Seconds of Pastitio were served up & the tossed salad demolished.

Another long break.

Nan had brought along Passionfruit Slice - similar to the version in www.Taste.com.au - but without passionfruit in the top layer. Nan had nearly given up on finding her recipe so we nearly had passionfruit iced cupcakes. Anyway the Passionfruit Slice was so yum - I have never seen it disappear so quickly ((Pic 7 - half demolished !) Then a phone call from London from another of Nan's grandchildren - a wonderful way to finish the evening.

hmm - and everyone just too full to eat the mini Turkish Delight Easter Eggs I had put aside for later on !

 

Posted via email from kerrieannesfridgemagnets's posterous