Julia Child Cabbage Stuffed With Leftover Turkey And Sausage Recipes

Steps:

• Remove the 12 outermost leaves from the cabbage; blanch for a few minutes in boiling, salted water to soften.
• Rinse blanched leaves in cold water, then drain, and let dry; cut out a v-shaped "notch" to remove some of the tough rib of each leaf, set aside.
• Core remainder of cabbage and chop inner leaves into 1 inch pieces so that you have about 2 cups; wash and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat; add onion and celery and saute, while tossing and stirring, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
• Add garlic and cabbage, cook another minute or so while tossing and stirring.
• Season with salt, pepper, caraway, and coriander, if using.
• Pour in stock, cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid evaporates and vegetables are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes (if too much liquid remains, simply remove cover and continue cooking).
• Remove vegetables to a mixing bowl and allow to cool; add cooked rice and ground beef, mix well (with hands).
• Be sure mixture is well seasoned as this is the stuffing (to test, fry a small amount in butter to taste seasonings).
• To make the sauce, set a casserole, or other oven proof pot, on the stove top and heat over medium high heat; add oil, onion, celery, and carrots.
• Saute until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Stir in tomatoes, salt and pepper, and bay leaves; cover and simmer on low while you stuff the cabbage.
• Okay, now the fun part, stuffing the cabbage (this is a Jacques Pepin exclusive method that Julia Child found utterly charming and much easier than the traditional method): Lay a large square of aluminum foil flat on your work surface.
• Place the four largest cabbage leaves on the foil; they should overlap and form a circle with the "notch" on the outside of the circle.
• Spread 1/3 of the stuffing on top, leaving about a 2 or 3 inch margin all around.
• Repeat using the next largest leaves and another 1/3 of the stuffing; then layer with the smallest leaves and remainder of the stuffing.
• Now you are going to use the foil to reshape the cabbage into it's original ball shape, no, seriously.
• Lift the corners and outside edges of the foil, and bring toward the center, so that the bottom layers of cabbage come up and sort of cover the smaller leaf layers.
• Keep pressing and forming into a ball, you will have a small opening at the top of the foil.
• Pour wine and stock into the casserole with the sauce; invert the cabbage ball and place into the sauce with the opening DOWN.
• Bring to a boil, over high heat, cover and place in center of preheated oven.
• Cook 2 hours.
• Once done, remove cabbage to a serving platter; this can be accomplished, heh heh heh, with one of those wire pasta thingys, or a heavy spatula (the opening should still be down).
• Pierce the foil and gently remove, from around and under, without disturbing the shape of the cabbage.
• Cut into wedges to serve; spoon sauce over or serve on side.

Steps:

• Special equipment: oven-safe large 2 1/2 or 3 quart round-bottomed bowl.
• Two days prior to making the dish: remove the core from the cabbage, wrap the head tightly in plastic, and place it in the freezer; the day you're going to make the dish thaw the frozen head in hot water and the leaves will easily peel off.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a pot, boil some water; blanch the slices of salt pork by immersing them in the boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, then rinse them in cold water to halt the cooking and pat them dry.
• In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the minced onions until tender, about 7 minutes.
• Take 3/4 of the cooked onions and set aside for stuffing; take the remaining cooked onions and set them aside for the sauce.
• Using 1 tablespoon of olive oil, in a small pan over medium heat lightly brown the carrot and thinly sliced onion, about 5 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the ground cooked turkey, sausage, eggs, cloves, salt, pepper, thyme, allspice, and the cooked onions reserved for the stuffing, and mix well; add 5 tablespoons (or more, to moisten enough so that the stuffing will adhere to cabbage leaves- see steps below) of the stock and mix.
• Take the large oven-safe round-bottomed bowl and line the bottom of it with half of the blanched salt pork strips, then lay half of the sliced carrots and onions on top.
• Take the peeled cabbage leaves and select the largest and best to line the bottom (covering the pork, carrots, and onion) and sides of the bowl- place the leaves with the ends down and the stem-side up.
• Spread a layer of the stuffing mixture, about 1/2-inch thick, on the bottom and sides of the bowl (which are now covered with the cabbage leaves), then press some smaller cabbage leaves on top of the stuffing.
• Repeat the process until the bowl is filled to within 1/2-inch of the top, occasionally slipping a large green leaf down the sides of the bowl, if necessary, to be sure that no gaps appear between the leaves.
• Cover with a final layer of cabbage leaves and the remaining pork and carrot/onion mixture, then pour in enough beef stock to come within 1 inch of the bowl rim.
• Place the bowl on a pan (to catch drippings) and place in the lower-middle section of the preheated oven; cook for 30 minutes- the cabbage should simmer.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; it is done when you place a thermometer into the thickest part of the bowl and the temperature reads 165 degrees F.
• Check it occasionally as it bakes- you want to keep the cabbage at a slow simmer, and you might need to add additional stock if too much evaporates.
• When the cabbage is almost done and there's only about 15 minutes left for it to bake, prepare the sauce: over medium heat in a saucepan, stir together the tomato and the remaining cooked minced onion, and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove the cabbage from the oven, remove the pork, carrot, and onion from the top layer, and drain off 1 cup of the liquid from the bowl; add the liquid to the tomato mixture and simmer an additional 5 minutes.
• Place a warm serving dish upside-down over the bowl and, while holding the dish in place, carefully un-mold the cabbage by turning bowl and dish over.
• Remove the pork, carrot, and onion mixture from where it was on the bottom of the bowl (which is now the top of the mold).
• In a saute pan, brown the pork strips.
• To serve, pour the tomato sauce around the base of the molded cabbage and garnish with the browned pork strips.