I’ve been craving something comforting and meaty lately. It’s been awhile since we’ve had stuffed cabbage rolls. The sweet and sour tang of a tomato sauce glazed over meat and rice stuffed cabbage definitely was in order!
I went with a recipe from Tyler Florence since I haven’t given him some recipe love lately. It definitely hit the spot just as I hoped and these are great to freeze since the recipe makes a large batch!
Sweet & Sour Tomato Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 1/2 quarts crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cabbage Rolls:
11/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Splash dry red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups steamed white rice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each
In your Instant Pot:
Plug in the IP with insert set in place.
Press SAUTE and add 2 tablespoons oil. When hot, add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar; simmer, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Transfer this sweet & sour sauce to a bowl and set aside.
In the now empty IP, add 2 more tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in tomato paste, a splash of wine, parsley, and 1/2 cup of the prepared sweet and sour tomato sauce and mix to incorporate. Press KEEP WARM/OFF.
In a large bowl, add the ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, the cooked rice, and the sauteed onion mixture from the IP. Toss the filling together with your hands to combine, season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
Rinse out the IP insert and return back to IP. Fill IP half way full with water and press SAUTE. Allow water to come to a boil.
Remove the large, damaged outer leaves from the cabbages and set aside. Cut out the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife and carefully pull off all the rest of the leaves, keeping them whole and as undamaged as possible (get rid of all the small leaves and use them for coleslaw or your favorite recipes using cabbage!).
Blanch the cabbage leaves in the IP pot of boiling water for 5 minutes or until pliable. Run the leaves under cool water then lay them out so you can assess just how many leaves you have to wrap up the filling.
Next, carefully cut out the center vein from the leaves so they will be easier to roll up. Take the reserved big outer leaves and lay them on the bottom of a round casserole pan that fits inside of your IP,
Put about a heaping 1/4 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage and starting at what was the stem-end, fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Place the cabbage rolls side by side, seam-side down, in a casserole pan in a single layer. Cover the layer in the sauce mixture and proceed to fill more cabbage leaves and fill the casserole dish with a second layer.
Pour the remaining sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. Drizzle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Empty the water from the IP, dry and return to the insert into the IP.
Place the trivet into the IP and add 1 1/2 cup of water.
Carefully place the casserole dish of cabbage rolls onto the trivet.
Press MANUAL and adjust the time to 20 minutes on HIGH pressure.
Once at pressure, the display will reflect 20 (the number of minutes you initially set) and will begin to countdown to 0 minutes.
Open up your IP when the pin has dropped (allow a few minutes for this to happen).
Carefully remove the casserole dish from the IP and spoon up the cabbage rolls to serve.
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