Deconstructing a classic Polish dish: Unstuffed Cabbage

The hearty Polish dish Stuffed Cabbage is easier to make and just as delicious when you unstuff it. Recipe below.

SO HERE WE ALL ARE, STAYING IN, looking after each other by staying apart from each other. Hiding. Staying well, healing, hunkering down and making do with what we’ve got and just getting through it.

As I write this, we are on Day 19 of our own stay home isolation. We are working from home, and our workplaces are as busy as a one-legged woman in an ass-kicking contest. So honestly, we don’t have a lot of down time to do things like count all the popcorn kernels or binge watch that 180-episode mystery series. And for dinner, we want something that is simple, but comforting, and we are looking at the sturdy, reliable things we have on hand.

Some people are hoarding toilet paper. I am hoarding cabbages. The last trip we took to the grocery store was a week or so ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, and the store was just starting to put out gigantic crates of whole cabbages. I believe I scared the produce manager when I said HURRAH! CABBAGE!

Stuffed cabbage—gołąbki—is one of those classic Polish dishes that has made itself familiar on the American table. Hearty, soothing, it’s one of those meals that says you are home, and you are safe.

But it’s a bit of work, is gołąbki, not least the parts where you blanch the cabbage leaves and then cool them off in iced water and then drain them and then wait for them to be dry enough and then stuff the cabbage leaves with the filling you made in the middle of all of that and then bake everything in the delicious tangy sauce. In that regard, with all these steps, it’s almost a dish of the past.

This unstuffed cabbage dish takes care of the busywork side of gołąbki simply by cooking all the components simultaneously and then skipping the stuffing-rolling-baking part.

And as we’re all cooking with what we’ve got on hand, this dish offers a certain amount of flexibility. If you have celery or carrots languishing in your fridge, cut them up and toss them into the sauce. But if you haven’t got them, no biggie. We used part of an andouille-style sausage that arrived in our grocery delivery, but you can use any ground meat or turkey, or sliced chicken breast or thigh meat, or you can skip animal protein entirely and maybe add some mushrooms sautéed Julia Child style. The star here is the interplay between the mild braised cabbage and the tangy tomato sauce.

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Unstuffed cabbage

The hearty Polish dish Stuffed Cabbage is easier to make and just as delicious when you unstuff it.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Polish-inspired

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 large head of green cabbage, cut into four wedges
• water or chicken stock or vegetable stock—a cup or so
• salt

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for the sausage)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red or green bell pepper, diced
• a couple of stalks of celery, minced (optional)
• 2 14-ounce cans of crushed or diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup red wine, water or stock
• 2 tablespoons golden raisins
• 4 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound sausage, cut into 1/2 inch coins

For serving:

• cooked white rice (or pasta or kasha)

Instructions

• To prepare the cabbage, tear off any loose, damaged outer leaves. Do not core the cabbage! You will need the core. Cut the cabbage in half longitudinally—wrap and store one half for later use. Take the other half and cut it lengthwise into four equal wedges—make sure each wedge includes a segment of the core to hold everything together in cooking.
• Place the four wedges in a single layer on their sides in a deep skillet with a tight fitting lid. They should fit closely in the pan—a 10-inch skillet would probably work best for four wedges. Pour in the liquid—it should be about 1/2 inch up the sides of the cabbage wedges, but a little higher is fine. Season with salt and bring to a boil over medium-high flame, lower heat and gently cook. After 10 minutes, gently turn each wedge to ensure even cooking. The whole process will take about 20 – 25 minutes. You want the cabbage to be fork tender but not collapsey.
• Meanwhile, start the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a big deep skillet, then sauté the onions and garlic for a couple of minutes, until the onion starts to grow translucent. Add the peppers and optional celery and sauté three or four more minutes.
• Then pour in the crushed or diced tomatoes and the wine or stock. Stir together, then add the raisins, brown sugar and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Stir again and let everything simmer together. After 15 minutes, taste—you may want to add more sugar or raisins or lemon juice. You’ll know when the balance is right for you.
• When the sauce starts simmering, start cooking the rice, and then prepare the sausage coins—brown them quickly in a separate skillet with a little oil, then add them to the sauce. If you are using another type of animal protein, sauté and add it now.
• Serve. Spoon cooked rice into a bowl or soup plate, arrange a cabbage wedge on top, and then spoon the sauce all around. You can also top pasta with this sauce, or have it on potatoes or kasha. Just delicious, and wasn’t that a lot easier than stuffed cabbage?