Russian Cabbage Borscht

As I mentioned yesterday, I scored at the supermarket with 5 lbs of beets for 99 cents, and a large red cabbage for another 99 cents. What came to mind? Borscht, of course!!  My favourite borscht recipe comes from Moosewood.

Image by Darwin Bell

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes

1 cup thinly sliced beets

4 cups vegetable stock or water

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)

2 teaspoons salt

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 large carrot, sliced

3 cups coarsely chopped red cabbage

black pepper to taste

handful fresh dill weed

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 cup tomato puree

sour cream, for topping

chopped tomatoes, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1.  Place sliced potatoes and beets in a medium saucepan over high heat; cover with stock, and boil until vegetables are tender. Remove potatoes and beets with a slotted spoon, and reserve stock.

2.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, caraway seeds, and salt; cook until onions become soft and translucent. Then stir in celery, carrots, and cabbage. Mix in reserved stock; cook, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

3.  Add potatoes and beets to the skillet. Season with black pepper and dill weed. Stir in cider vinegar, honey, and tomato puree. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream, extra dill weed, and chopped fresh tomatoes.

Photo credit
Moscow at night by Jamie Silva, Flickr

German Red Cabbage

I scored at the supermarket yesterday: a large red cabbage for 99 cents! Woo hoo!!!

I have been wanting to make sweet and sour cabbage for a while.  I ate it lots when I lived in Brooklyn, as my upstairs neighbours always made it for our holiday potlucks -- Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

German Red Cabbage

10 Servings
Adapted from Taste of Home

Photo by Jen R

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 unpeeled apple, sliced
• 1 medium red cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

• Coat the inside of a large Dutch oven with a little oil or cooking spray. 
• Saute onion and apple until tender. Add all remaining ingredients. 
• Cover and cook until tender, about 1 hour. 
• Serve hot or cold. 

Delicious the next day as leftovers!  Makes loads, so if you are a singleton, like me, you can freeze in individual portions.

Cabbage Rolls

Last Saturday's shopping

This is the haul from last Saturday, and it will feed me for 10 days or so.  You can see: 2 cauliflowers (they were on sale at 2 for $1.00 so I got both), large bag of mushrooms, a small butternut squash, a buttercup squash, an eggplant, fresh tomatoes, apples, an onion, a green cabbage, dried apricots, raisins, a rutabaga.  I have the staples -- flour, shortening, vegetable oil, tomato paste, spices, brown rice and pasta already in the cupboard from an earlier shop.

Total cost for the veggies and fruit? $11.00

So far I have made cabbage rolls, cauliflower and lentil soup, and a vegetable curry from my haul. Here's my recipe for veggie cabbage rolls.

Cabbage Rolls

For the stuffing

1/2 c brown rice

1/3 c raisins

3/4 c white beans

1 T red wine vinegar

1 tsp. mixed italian seasoning, or to taste

1/2 tsp. hot pepper flakes, or to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

For the roasted veggies

4 cloves garlic

1 cup tomatoes

1/4 onion 

1 c. eggplant

1 T oil

For the sauce

1 tsp oil

1/2 onion

4 cloves garlic

1 red pepper

6 tomatoes (or a tin of tomatoes if you don't have fresh)

1 c mushrooms

1 tsp each basil, oregano, thyme

1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes, or to taste

1 tsp sugar

8 cabbage leaves, blanched

My brown rice and roasted veggie cabbage rolls,
served with a lovely, spicy tomato sauce.
These were delicious!!

1. Add 1/2 cup brown rice to 1 cup cold water. Bring to boil, and put a lid on your saucepan, and reduce to lowest heat. Cook until water is absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes. I know my rice is done when there are little dimples on the top of the rice.

2. Dice ingredients for roasted veggies into about 3/4 to 1 inch pieces (except the garlic), toss with 1 T oil, and roast on a flat tray in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 F.  Inspect from time to time, flipping as necessary so that all sides are roasted.  Allow to cool, and at this point chop or smush the roasted garlic (it will be very soft).

3. While rice is cooking and veggies are roasting, prepare the tomato sauce. Saute onions and garlic in oil for 4 - 5 minutes, over a medium heat, until softened. Dice red pepper and tomatoes, slice mushrooms and add to pan.  Add herbs and spices. As the sauce cooks the tomatoes will begin to break down and the sauce will thicken naturally. If it is too watery, you can add a little tomato paste, and if it seems too dry, add a little water, 1/2 cup at a time.

4. When the rice and oven roasted veggies are done, toss these together in a large bowl with raisins, white beans, red wine vinegar, italian seasoning, hot pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. 

5. Blanch 8 leaves of cabbage. I read that the best way to do this is to put the whole head of cabbage in a large pot of boiling water, but as I was only making 8 cabbage rolls I elected to blanch the 8 leaves separately. Carefully "peel" the outer leaves from your cabbage. It gets harder, the closer you get to the centre. Drop one at a time into a large pot of boiling water, and cook for 3 minutes. Fish out with a pair of tongs. Let cool, and now you are ready to assemble!  If you are struggling with peeling the cabbage and know that you will use the rest of a boiled cabbage within a few days, go ahead and dunk the whole thing! I wanted to save my cabbage for coleslaw, later in the week.

6.  Watch minutes 3:01 to 4:00 on this youtube video to see the best way to stuff and roll your rolls (remember, our recipes are not the same!!)

 

7. Now that your rolls are assembled, place nestled up against each other in an ovenproof dish, an 8" x 8" dish should be large enough.  Pour the tomato sauce over the top, and cover the dish with foil.

8. Bake at 375 F for 30 minutes.  Your ingredients are basically already cooked, you are just allowing them to blend together in the oven.

9. Enjoy!!