italian stuffed cabbage
Prior to November, what I knew of stuffed cabbage rolls were limited to the Jewish/Eastern European variety, which I make . I hadn’t given it further thought because as far as I was concerned, it was never broken, and needed little improvement, and when there’s little room for me to tinker in the kitchen, I quickly lose interest. But if I had, it might have occurred to me that cabbage, being one of the ultimate peasant foods, has probably been wrapped around meat that’s been ground and then stretched (always budget-minded, those peasants) with other ingredients and cooked in a sauce in a zillion different ways over the centuries. And oh, the fun we might have been having this whole time.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
What these numbers assume — 13 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Pork Sausage | 100g cooked | 301 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Parmesan Cheese | 1 oz (28g) | 110 |
| Plum | 1 medium (66g) | 30 |
| Savoy Cabbage | 1 cup shredded (89g) | 22 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Rosemary | 1 tsp dried (1.2g) | 4 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Sage | 1 tsp ground (0.7g) | 2 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1 large savoy cabbage
- 7-ounce (200-gram) hunk of bread (see above), crusts cut away, torn into small scraps (you’ll have about 3 loose cups of scraps)
- 2/3 cup (approximately 150 ml) whole milk
- 14 ounces (400 grams) or approximately 4 plain pork sausages (I used sweet — i.e. non-spicy — Italian), casings removed
- 1 small sprig of sage, finely chopped
- 1 small sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 28-ounce can peeled plum tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced