Ah, cabbage, that ubiquitous vegetable cultivated for the last 1000 years in every country where it’s too cold to do anything outside for at least six months out of the year. I will not deny that we Russians love our cabbage, but it is a love that was born out of necessity, and at the risk of escalating into boredom, creative approaches were taken with the preparation of this most noble of leafy heads. But I digress.
Golubtsi (golubetz in the singular) are not a far cry from how I described them in the title — little handfuls of a mixture of beef, pork, and veal, mixed with rice and onions, lovingly wrapped into a cabbage leaf that’s been pounded into submission by a meat hammer. This is not an easy recipe, per se, only in the sense that there is a fair amount of preparation involved. You’ll notice many Russian recipes are like this, and it primarily stems from the fact that spending half of a day on one food project makes all the sense in the world when it’s -20 F outside and you’d rather not spend 12 hours on Netflix, binge-watching The Office. (Shut up, you don’ t know my life.) So, without further ado:
Golubtsi
2 ½ lb beef/pork/veal ground meatloaf mix (you can grind your own meat if you feel inclined, but who wants to do that? Just buy a high-quality meat mix and call it a day)
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1 large onion
1 head of cabbage
Salt/pepper to taste
½ cup parsley, chopped
Oil for sautéing
Prepare the cabbage first. There are two ways to do this:
- Place a whole head of cabbage into a large pot filled with boiling water. It is ready when you insert a knife into the cabbage with no give.
- Place the cabbage into a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for 48 hours. Then, defrost overnight and in the morning the cabbage will be soft and pliable.
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Pour the rice into a pot with 4-5 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Then cook on medium heat, uncovered, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes it will still be in a lot of water and be “al dente” to taste. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
After preparing the cabbage using either of the aforementioned steps, place the head on a cutting board with the core side up. Cut it out carefully using a long sharp knife. Try not to destroy the surrounding leaves. Leaf by leaf, gently take apart the cabbage. Each leaf will be your wrap for the recipe, so try not to tear any.
Take each leaf and use a sharp knife to thin the thickest part of the main vein, to make the whole leaf more uniform in thickness. Be careful with this step too, so as not to cause any holes or tears in the leaf (think of the meat babies!). Take a meat mallet and pound out each leaf along the vein on a cutting board until they are flat. You need the leaves to be almost rag-like in order to wrap them around the meat and rice later. They will be wrapped with the vein encircling the center of each golubetz, so they must be flat and easy to wrap.
Dice the onion and sauté over oil of your choice in a large saucepan, on medium, until they become golden brown. In a large bowl, combine onion, cooked drained rice, raw meat, and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. My mom, being an incredible badass, tastes the raw meat mixture with the tip of her tongue to see if it is seasoned well enough. I will not judge you if your fear of food-borne illnesses prevents you from doing the same.
Grease a large roasting pan (my mum uses this incredible brand, but if you want to be price-conscious, this will do just as nicely) with oil or cooking spray (your choice), and preheat broiler to 450 F.
On a cutting board, lay the cabbage leaf flat with the bottom of the vein towards you. Take a small handful of the meat mixture and place it in the lower center of the leaf, and slowly roll up the leaf around it:
![IMG_2066](https://loladraws.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/img_2066.jpg?w=169&h=300)
Halfway up, fold the left and right sides in (similar to how grape leaves are stuffed):
![IMG_2065](https://loladraws.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/img_2065.jpg?w=169&h=300)
Continue to roll the cabbage leaf up until the last bit of leaf is wrapped around the meat:
![IMG_2067](https://loladraws.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/img_2067.jpg?w=169&h=300)
Then, carefully place it with the flap side down into the pan. Repeat, placing each wrap neatly in the bottom of the roasting pan side by side, until the meat mixture is used up.
![IMG_2064](https://loladraws.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/img_2064.jpg?w=300&h=169)
TIP: This recipe yields roughly thirty golubtsi. If you have leftover meat, and don’t want to make more than one pan worth of golubtsi, you can freeze the excess raw golubtsi and cook them at a future date. They will keep in a freezer for four to six weeks.
Brush each golubetz with oil, and place in the broiler for five minutes. After five minutes, remove the pan, turn each golubetz over carefully, and cook for five more minutes in the broiler.
While the golubtsi are cooking, you can make the sauce for the next step:
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (if you don’t love garlic, you don’t have to use it in this recipe, but I will respect you less for your hatred of the magnificent garlic bulb)
3 stalks of celery, thinly chopped
1/3 cup parsley
2 28-oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes (or equivalent tomato sauce if you prefer a smoother sauce)
Salt/pepper/sugar to taste
Lemon juice
Sour cream
Heat a saucepan with oil on medium heat and add garlic. As soon as the garlic becomes aromatic, add celery, stirring constantly. Add parsley and cans of tomato, “chopping” the tomatoes with your spatula, or conversely, chopping them ahead of time in the can/on a cutting board. After cooking for about 10 minutes, taste and add sugar, salt, or pepper as needed. Add a fresh squeeze of lemon juice (about half a lemon’s worth). Continue to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Right before taking the sauce off of the heat, add three tablespoons of sour cream to the sauce and mix well.
Remove the pan of golubtsi from the broiler and pour the sauce over top, covering the golubtsi completely. Cover the pan tightly with foil. Set it into the oven at 350 F for 45 minutes.
Serve immediately; they can also be easily reheated the next day. These also freeze very well for future “TV dinner”-style eating.