GOLABKI or Polish Stuffed Cabbage

My produce ingredients: Cabbage and green garlic

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage

1 cup rice

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground pork

1 tsp polish seasoning

2 tbls diced green garlic

2 cups beef broth (and or 1 can tomato sauce)

Pronounced go-womp-ki, this dish took me back to my Polish roots. I'm embarrassed to say it's the first Polish food I've made on my own (I've made quite a few things with Grandma over the years). First cook the rice half way: boil 2 cups of water, add rice, bring back to a boil, cover and set on low heat for 10 minutes. We don't need to cook all the way through. Then core your cabbage as best you can (just slightly is ok). Bring a few cups of water to medium heat on the stove and add your cabbage. In order to roll up the golabki the cabbage has to be tender and flexible. As the outer leaves turn bright green, peal them off and leave the head in there, as the inner layers will still be tough. In a medium mixing bowl mix together meat, as much rice as you like (I only used half a cup for this), seasoning, and garlic. Some recipes call for minced, partially cooked onion, so feel free to add that too if you've got it. 

To assemble your golabki, place a small handful of filling in the leaf, fold either side in, and roll up. I channeled my inner burrito maker to help with this. Then I used toothpicks to secure the Polish treats. In your largest skillet, heat up beef broth to medium. Add as many golabkis as you can fit in one layer (don't over do it). Let this cook for 2 hours on the stove. Add water as needed to keep them mostly submerged. Flip them once at an hour and again near the end. This will keep the filling moist. Serve with some of the broth or with sour cream for an authentic Polish meal.

Result: Wyborny (that's Polish for excellent)

This may be a labor of love, due to the long cooking time, but if you've got time to spare, this is an excellent meal. I had a few that wouldn't fit in my skillet so I baked them in the oven with can of tomato sauce on a bed of the remaining rice. I could have added a can full of water to this too, as it was difficult to keep these from drying out. I flipped these the same as I did in the skillet, which helped immensely. 

I have to say, I love the green garlic. The flavor is crisper, and sweeter than regular garlic. A real treat to find something so tasty! It's almost like a green onion and garlic had a love child, and the result is perfect to add flavor to savory dishes! For this reason, it's a good thing I forgot to add the onion! I chopped up all of it, but I only added about 2 tablespoons (maybe another pinch for good luck). It was an appropriate amount, and now I have some extra garlic ready to cook in something else! I'll have to keep my eye out at the stores to see if anyone sells it regularly.