By: Robin Kurss

During the celebration of Sukkot, it’s customary to prepare and eat “stuffed foods” to be enjoyed with friends in the sukkah. One of the reasons behind the stuffed foods, particularly vegetables, is that they represent the abundance of the harvest. Cabbage rolls are eaten because their Hebrew name contains the same letters as the Hebrew name, meaning “blessed.” Two cabbage rolls side by side might also remind some of the Torah scroll. I am blessed to have 2 women in my life who make THE BEST stuffed cabbage. Their secret is to bake the stuffed cabbage low (250 degrees) and slow (overnight). Trust me, you will wake up to the most wonderful smell you can imagine. This is my take on…..

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
• 1 large head of cabbage
• 1½ pounds ground beef (for a vegetarian version, I use farfel cooked with sauteed onions and mushrooms)
• ½ cup raw rice
• 1 small onion, grated
• 2 eggs
• Garlic salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1–15 or 16 ounce canned tomato sauce
• 2–28-ounce cans tomatoes with their juice
• Juice of 2 large lemons, or to taste
• ½ cup light brown sugar, packed or to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the core out of the cabbage. Microwave cabbage until outer leaves become soft and are easily separated. Remove outer leaves, continue process until all leaves are removed. Alternatively, freeze head of cabbage overnight. Let thaw completely on counter and then remove leaves. Either technique works well and is a lot easier than boiling the head of cabbage!
2. Cut off the thickest part of each leaf, near where the leaf had been attached to the core.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees F.
4. Mix the rice, grated onion, eggs, garlic salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the beef and combine all the ingredients with your hands. Make oval shaped meatballs between golf ball and baseball sized. Set them aside on a plate.
5. Loosely wrap each meatball in a cabbage leaf (place meat on bottom of leaf, fold right and left side of leaf over filling and roll like an egg roll. Place seam side down on a platter. Arrange half of the leftover leaves on the bottom of a baking pan. (I use my turkey roasting pan) Move the cabbage rolls into the pan.
6. Once all the cabbage rolls are in the pan, Mix in a bowl: tomatoes and their juice, the tomato sauce, the lemon juice, brown sugar, garlic salt and pepper. If the canned tomatoes are whole, open them with a spoon or knife, so that their juices flow out. Pour over rolls and then top with the remaining extra cabbage leaves if there are any. Cover the pan tightly with foil.
7. Transfer to the oven and bake covered for 8 hours! Dolores and Barbara like the cabbages to be browned so you can broil them until browned further if you wish.