Slow cooker Golumpki (aka cabbage rolls)

I got a head of cabbage in my organic veg delivery last week, so decided to try making my favorite Polish food: golumpki. Also known as cabbage rolls - but 'golumpki' is just so fun to say.

This is a very basic cabbage roll recipe; when I make this in the future (and I will make these again, because they are so delicious), I'll get a little more creative with the spices and sauce. Makes about 12 rolls/4 servings. I ran out of big cabbage leaves before I did meat, so I froze the remaining and will use it to make stuffed peppers.

Ingredients
1 large head of cabbage

For the filling
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 cup cooked white rice
1 medium onion and 1 green pepper, diced and sauteed in a little olive oil until soft
2 eggs
~ 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
~ 3 tablespoons minced garlic (more or less, according to taste)
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 1/2 tsp pepper

For the sauce
2 cans chopped tomatoes (with juice)
3 or 4 bay leaves

To make

1) Prepare the cabbage leaves. This is the semi-complicated part.

Fill a large pot about 1/2 way with water, bring to a boil. In the meantime, remove the stem of the cabbage with a sharp knife and discard.

Place the head of cabbage into the pot of boiling water and cover, allow it to cook for about 10 minutes. After this time, you should in theory be able to remove each whole leaf with tongs. This didn't quite work for me, so what I ended up doing was pouring out the hot water, filling the pot back up with cold water, and gingerly removing each leaf from the head as it sat in this cool water bath.

Lay the leaves down one at a time on a cutting board and remove the main rib (the hard part) using a sharp knife. Keep the leaf otherwise intact, though.

Set the cabbage leaves aside.

2) Make the stuffing. Place all of the ingredients for the meat stuffing into a large bowl. Mix well, using your hands. This process is gooey and satisfying.

3) Stuff those cabbages! Lay a cabbage leaf out flat, take a handful of the meat mixture and place it on the leaf near the end that was once attached to the cabbage stem.

Fold the leaf up on each side, and then starting at the cut end roll it up. Repeat with remaining leaves until you have used up all of the meat mixture.

4) Add tomatoes and cook 'em. Place the cabbage rolls seam side down in the crockpot. Pour chopped tomatoes over the rolls. Add bay leaves, cover and cook on low 8 hours.

Mushroom Red Wine Sauce

This is a quick and easy sauce that goes well with steak or chicken. Directions below make enough for two, though you can easily double the recipe.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, thinly sliced (I use the generic white 'shrooms they sell at the supermarket)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup red wine
~ 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary (or about 1/3 that amount of dried rosemary)

To make
1. Melt the butter in a large skillet/saucepan over medium-high heat
2. Add the mushroom slices and cook until they soften and release their juices, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the salt and pepper, and continue to cook until the juices evaporate.
4. Add the wine and rosemary. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 3 minutes.

Spoon over the meat of your choice.

Red Turkey Chili

Okay, this is gonna be like Jen's, but more on the red side and it's a bit more complicated -- it's a chili recipe I made up by combining a bunch of recipes that looked good. The amounts are estimates -- I just wing it, but this is basically on the recipe card I have. Oh, and you can make it vegetarian -- that's why I used to do, when I ate less meat.

Ingredients

• 3 ribs of celery
  
• 2 onions
  
• 3 carrots
  
• 3-4 cloves garlic
  
• 1-2 zucchinis
  
• 1/2 to 1 dried chipotle pepper (1/2 if you're Jen; 3-4 if you're Maryam)
  
• 4-7 plum tomatoes
  
• 1 tsp cumin
  
• 1 T chili powder
  
• 1/2 tsp coriander
  
• 1/4 tsp allspice
  
• 2 tsp oregano
  
• 1 can each: kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans
  
• 1 large can crushed or diced tomatoes
  
• 1 lb. ground turkey (or ground beef?)
  
• 1 small package frozen corn (if not you or the person you're cooking for are on the SBD)
  
• a bunch of fresh cilantro
  

The directions are pretty standard. Some preparatory steps: Drain and rinse the beans, and prepare the pepper by boiling some water and soaking it in about 1/2 to 1 cup boiling water.

Cook the turkey in a big pot (I always have to add some oil so it doesn't stick); throw in some salt and a few spices. After it's cooked, put in a separate bowl and set aside.

In the same pot, add some more oil and saute all the vegetables -- I usually start with the onions & celery, then add the carrots and garlic. Add chopped zucchini and tomatoes and all the spices last. Let it cook a bit.

Finally, add the tomatoes to the pot, chop the chipotle pepper and add it along with some or all of its soaking water to the pot. Add the frozen corn. Add the ground turkey.

Simmer for a LONG time. Add more spices if you think it needs it. When you're ready to take it off the stove, add the chopped fresh cilantro.

That's it! It makes a lot -- it'll get you through a good part of the week. Mary likes to have it with melted cheese on top. :)

Modified Keema

I'm currently on the South Beach diet. And I also currently have three kids with very disparate and definitive food tastes. I was lucky to get requests for hamburgers from Aden and Spaghetti and Meatballs from Kalan, so I bought a family pack of ground beef and went at it.

Keema is a ground meat dish usually with peas. Comfort food. I made this in my trusty Le Crueset pot, but it will work equally well in a slow cooker I'd imagine. In case someone fancies a bit of Indian...

First on chopping. I have a German hand grinder that chops things very very small. A food processor of course works for those with that sort of technology at hand. Decent knife skills are also good of course, although I was cooking 5 dishes simultaneiously and need to move fast.

Saute minced onions (one large or whatever is on hand), a generous amount of minced garlic. When they are decently sweated, put ground coriander, cumin, and curry to taste (I twice the coriander). After a minute or so, add three to four large minced zucchini (this is a huge modification, but it made for a very nice texture) let it sweat for a while and then a handful of minced meat. Cook this for a while until the meat loses the pink. I then threw in a fair amount of tomato which made it deliciously sloppy joe like. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also threw in a chopped jalepeno and some chopped cilantro.

Eat with rice. If you aren't on the South Beach diet like I am.

Incredibly Easy Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy

Dinner from Sunday. I've definitely made stew with all-fresh vegetables and herbs and whatnot, but if you're pressed for time, this takes about 5 minutes to prepare.

2 lbs. beef stew meat
1 lb package frozen stew vegetables
1 10 3/4-oz can condensed golden mushroom soup (Campbells's makes this)
2/3 cup Burgundy (or any earthy/woody cheap red wine)
1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca

Put frozen vegetables in slow cooker.
Put meat on top on vegetables.

In a medium bowl, stir together soup, wine, 1/3 cup water, and tapioca.
Pour mixture over meat and veggies.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for about 4 hours.
Try not to salivate too badly as your apartment is filled with the intoxicating fragrance of stewing beef.

Eat with crusty bread.