This layered cabbage roll casserole delivers the comforting flavor of gołąbki (cabbage rolls) without all the effort of making the rolls. Recipe below.
IF, LIKE ME, YOU GREW UP WITH A MOM WHO WOULD MAKE GOŁĄBKI—the comforting, homey classic that not-Polish people call cabbage rolls—then you sometimes just get a hankering. And it’s an itch that is not easy to scratch. Gołąbki (pronounced go-UMPki), frankly, is a colossal nuisance. It is complicated. It is time consuming. It demands a particular appearance, and it is very easy to ruin.
So recently, when we were leafing through Pass the Plate, a lovely cookbook recommended by our friends Kelly and Al, I was delighted to find Carolina Gelen’s evocative recipe taking off from classic gołąbki, which she calls Think Cabbage Roll in a Casserole.
Instead of making individual cabbage rolls—and inevitably tearing so many cabbage leaves in the process—you layer those leaves with other ingredients, creating a kind of cabbage lasagna.
The recipe is still a bit complicated—this is definitely a weekend meal—but it is ever so much simpler than making traditional gołąbki, with the same delicious, comforting flavor.
This is our take on Gelen’s dish and, if I say so myself, it really hits the spot.
Gołąbki (cabbage roll casserole)
Equipment
- 9-inch springform pan
Ingredients
- 1 head of cabbage, 2 to 2-1/2 pounds
- 5 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil
- 2 medium shallots, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup) or the same volume of white onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons paprika (not smoked)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- a generous grind of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound pork sausage
- 2 14-1/2-ounce cans petite diced tomatoes
- 3/4 cup of red wine (or beef stock, if you don't want to use alcohol)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Cut the cabbage in half lengthwise. Wrap each half very tightly in aluminum foil and place on a cookie sheet. Bake the halves until they are very soft—about 40 minutes. Check by piercing with a fork. Take them out of the oven and set aside so they cool enough to handle.
- Next, in a deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the cooking oil over medium. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté until they are beginning to soften. Add the rice and sauté some more, until it is fragrant and a bit toasty. Then add in the tomato paste and the paprika and continue to sauté, caramelizing the tomato paste, for 2 or 3 minutes. Then add in the cayenne pepper, black pepper, tarragon, and the meats. Cook briefly.
- Then add the tomatoes, crushing them with your spatula, and then pour in the wine (or stock). Rinse out the tomato cans with a bit of wine or stock and add that in too. Stir everything together, bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes.
- While you are simmering the sauce, carefully take apart the roasted cabbage. Try not to tear the leaves, but don't worry about it if you do.
- Coat the springform pan with oil. If yours, like ours, enjoys leaking, wrap the base in foil. Coat the bottom of the pan with a big spoonful of the sauce. Then layer cabbage leaves all over—use about a quarter of the leaves. Then add a layer of sauce, using ab0ut half the remaining sauce, then another layer of cabbage leaves, then the rest of the sauce, and finish with the rest of the cabbage. If you have any leftover pieces—torn bits, thick chunks—mince them up and add them to the top layer. (If you have a lot of cabbage left over, save it—you can heat it with some butter and a little water for a side dish with another meal.)
- Tightly cover the top of the pan with more aluminum foil, slide it in the oven, and bake for 75 minutes. Take it out of the oven, remove the foil, put back in the oven, and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the top is beautifully golden brown.
- Take the cabbage cake out of the oven and let it rest on a rack for at least 15 minutes. Then it's ready to serve. Serve it in the same way as a cake, in wedges. So good.