One my favourite Fall/Winter Greek dishes has to be Cabbage Rolls.
The classic Greek version of cabbage rolls (Λαχανοντολμάδες) are finished with a creamy Avgolemono sauce, which is an emulsion of beaten eggs/lemon juice that is slowly incorporated with hot stock.
The hot stock is the braising liquid that is added to the cabbage rolls as they bake in the oven. This liquid is very flavourful from the cabbage, the ground pork and beef, herbs, seasoning in the filling.
The old school way of separating leaves of cabbage can be seen at my other cabbage rolls recipe and today, I take a departure from that and use Napa cabbage.
More uniform, easier to blanche, I am very pleased with using this type of cabbage and I think you will too!
No longer intimidating, cabbage rolls will be made more often using this method. Let’s go!
Napa Cabbage Rolls With Avgolemono Sauce
Course: Beef, Best of Greece, Cabbage, Dinner, Eggs, Featured, Greek, Greek Food, Herbs, How To, Lemon, Main, Meat, Olive Oil, Onions, Recipe, Rice, Salt, Sauce, Tomato, Vegetables16
rolls1
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hourIngredients
1 large Napa cabbage
sea salt
lemon juice
- Filling
3/4 cup of Arborio rice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup tomato puree
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- Avgolemono Sauce
Corn starch diluted in cold water
Juice of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
Directions
- Place a large pot of water on your stovetop and bring to a boil. Add salt, some lemon juice. Lop off and discard the stem end of your head of cabbage and separate the leaves.
- Dunk the thick stalk ends of your cabbage into the boiling water for about 40 seconds or until softened. Place in a colander to drain and cool.
- Into a large bowl, add all the filling ingredients and mix with your hands until combined.
- Place some spare cabbage leaves on the bottom of your roasting pan.
- Take a cabbage leaf and place a 2-3 tablespoons of filling near the bottom of the leaf. Fold the bottom up over the meat and the two ends of the leaf inwards and roll it up (do not roll too tightly as the rice will expand and may break your leaves). Repeat with remaining filling/cabbage rolls. Place them in your roasting pan.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper on top of your cabbage rolls, place some more loose cabbage leaves over the stuffed cabbage and you may even place a heavy plate on top to prevent them from breaking open.
- Add 3 to 4 cups of low sodium chicken (or vegetable) hot stock into the roasting pan (enough liquid to cover the cabbage by 1 inch), cover with the lid and place into a pre-heated 375F oven (lower rack) for about 50-60 minutes.
- Prepare Avgolemono sauce: crack your eggs into a bowl with the lemon juice, whisk to combine.
- When the cabbage rolls are cooked, carefully pour out the hot liquid into a large bowl.
- Take a ladle of your cabbage roll stock (hot) and slowly (SLOWLY) pour into the bowl with your egg/lemon mixture. Add 2 more ladles of stock (slowly) while whisking. Adjust seasoning and add salt to taste.
- Measure out how many cups of sauce you have and transfer to a pot. Add one tablespoon of cornstarch for each cup of liquid into a bowl diluted with some cold water and stir to combine and add to your sauce.
- Place your sauce into a pot and place on your stove over medium heat and continuously stir until sauce has thickened.
- Pour some Avgolemono sauce on your cabbage rolls and allow to rest about 5 minutes before serving.
- Divide and plate, ladle more Avgolemono sauce over your cabbage rolls. Fresh ground pepper on top is fab too!
Recipe Video
Greek Cabbage RollsFinishing off cabbage rolls with Avgolemono sauce.
Notes
- *The inner leaves of Napa cabbage are too small for rolls so I use these leaves to line the top and bottom of my pan.
3 Responses
it’s easier to blanch the head first in boiling water for a few (or more) minutes then peel off the leaves when they are softened… and then core it with a sharp knife too…great recipe!
I use that method in my other cabbage rolls recipe but this one’s easier.
I love the idea of using Napa cabbage! Great idea! And avgolemeno makes so many things even better.