My children devour the insides of my stuffed cabbage rolls but don't care for the cabbage itself. So I created a new dish called "Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Not Rolled in Cabbage" but someone on twitter rained on my parade and said that their mother invented the dish in the 80s and called them "porcupine balls". Well. I'm re-inventing the 80s "porcupine balls" and calling them "cabbage meatballs". Sounds much more posh. No offense to the "porcupine ball" enthused out there.

 

Ingredients:

Head of cabbage, two cups of uncooked rice, 1/2 pound of ground beef, 1/2 pound of ground pork, 1/2 pound of ground veal, a can of tomato soup, a can of stewed tomatoes, one egg and a blend of your favorite meatloaf spices (1/2 cup of breadcrumbs combined w/meatloaf spices).

 

1. Cook Rice

Cook two cups of rice. I prefer instant rice because it's instant.

 

2. Prepare meat

My sous chef (can you believe how much she has grown) prepared the meats by squishing them together. Make sure you do a lot of squishing so that all three meats (pork, beef, veal) are well combined.

 

3. Shred cabbage

Take a raw head of cabbage and peel off three leaves. Roll the three leaves together to give you a strong grip for grating. Grate away into tiny pieces. Add more or less cabbage to your own taste. There's no right/wrong amount of how much you want to add. I usually add about six leaves of cabbage and eat the core as a snack. Have you ever snacked on a cabbage core? Amazing!

 

4. Combine

Add the shredded cabbage, cooked rice, one egg, 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and meatloaf spices to the meat mixture.

 

5. Create sauce

Your meatball mixture is done, so it's time to create the sauce that the meatballs will be boiling in. Take one large can of tomato soup, one can of stewed tomatoes (I just use the tomatoes and get rid of excess liquid), one cup of water and dump them into a medium sauce pan. Mix. Place on a burner over heat. Wait until it boils and lower heat.

 

6. Create the meatballs

Form the meat mixture into balls. If the mixture is a little soft and not staying together, coat the balls in breadcrumbs.

 

7. Cook

Place meatballs into the sauce over low heat. Cover. Keep them on low heat for 2 hours, turning them only once half-way through cooking time. Don't touch them. Just let them "smother" for two hours covered - turning once.

 

8. Eat

 

I can't even begin to describe how amazing these "cabbage meatballs" are. They break apart as soon as the fork enters. I have a very picky eater and this is her most favorite dish. Essentially it's a meat & rice meatball cooked in tomato soup. I wish that it was in my repertoire of dinners when the kiddos were young because the meatballs are so tender my children would have gobbled them up as toddlers.

 

From my house, to yours... Bon Appetit.  Or as we say in Poland....  Smacznego.