Um, I got it from the article in my magazine...

They are pretty soft potatoes, very fluffy. In general they're my favorite for anything, though I usually leave the skin on when cooking with them. Can't do that for gnocchi... I think it would gum up the potato ricer. Do you not have red russet potatoes over in Across-The-Sea-Land?

The wild world of potatoes baffles me. Looking at the common usage, I'm now pretty sure that the author of the article wanted me to use brown russet potatoes. What you have, that is. http://www.foodsubs.com/Potatoes.html

But I used red new potatoes, which are also called russet here- the display had red russet and brown russet. Hm! The potato reference link says they're waxy and hold their shape well, which is pretty good for a pasta.

THE WILD WORLD OF POTATOES!!

Thanks! It seems like a section of the world (which includes me) liberally misuse the vocabulary. I would love some education.

Hrm. I wonder how Yukon Golds would do in that. I loves the flavor, I do.

:-p

Kosher salt is basically the same as table salt without the Iodine.


It's nice to season meats with since it doesn't seem to make them overly salty since you can more easily control the amount you're adding via the pinch method.  Both my brother and I (and Alton) have one of these filled with kosher salt in the kitchen.  It's just a nice way to add a bit to recipes.

Stuffed Cabbage rolls

*please forgive me, I don't have an exact recipe*

BUT! It is easy to make.

Ingredients:
Ground Beef
Onions
Garlic
Celery
Cream Cheese
Rice
Tomato sauce
Saurkraut (in either bag or jar form, must have lots of juice)
Raw Bacon
Cabbage
Mashed potatoes (fresh made or boxed, your preference)
Sour Cream

Fry up the ground beef with as much onions as you want, garlic, and some celery.
I like it really onion-ey. Garlic-ey, too.
Toss in some worchestershire sauce and pepper to season.

Taste a bit, if it is tasty... good seasoning on your part.
That is the correct amount to have used.
If not... add more onion/garlic/pepper/worchestershire

Drain and set aside

Cook up a bunch of rice. You are going to be mixing roughly equal parts rice and ground beef together.
Soften and add enough cream cheese so that the beef/rice sticks together a bit. You're not going for cheese ball consistancy here, just yeee sticky filling.

Core the cabbage and place in boiling water. Use tongs to separate the leaves and boil until you can bend the stem of the cabbage leaves without breaking it. This is not an exact science, it just needs to be really pliable. Not mush.

Take a cabbage leaf, add a couple tablespoons of filling to the center of the leaf and fold up burrito style. Use as much filling as you can comforably fold up inside. Place seam down in a big ol' roaster pan.

Once you have a layer of cabbage rolls, add a nice layer of sauerkraut and all the juice.

On top of this, pour out a can or two or so over the sauerkraut of tomato sauce. (just plain old liquified tomato goo) It should be roughly covered, not swimming. Add on top of this, several strips of raw bacon spaced about 1/2" apart until the top is covered.

Repeat!!!

Another layer of cabbage rolls, another layer of sauerkraut, another layer of tomato paste and finally bacon.

Do this until the pan is full. If you have any sauerkraut juice left over... add it. Toss that stuff on in there.

Bake at 350 degrees until you've forgotten that you're cooking. Or 300 for just shy of forever. I like to let it bake for a very long time, because the flavors get all blendy and good. yummmmmm
Plus there be raw bacon in thar. Let that sucker cook.

Tips: Please make this in a deeeeeeeep dish. Or pot. Just make sure it is deep. I've tried making them in small batches in a shallow cake pan.... man it just ISN'T the same. I highly reccommend a small turkey roaster and make a TON of them. They freeze up great.

So after eleven million years passes, they are done.

Put your mashed potatoes on a plate, top with a couple of cabbage rolls, saurkraut and baconey stuffs, pour liquid from the pan on it if you want.

Top with sour cream.

JOYGASMIC FOODSTUFFS!!!!

Tips on the cabbage:
Get several cabbages. The tiny leaves towards the center are a pain in the *#$&(@*&#$(*^% to roll up.
If you don't want to toss the middle of the cabbage... I dunno. Make corned beef or summat with it. Compost it. Leave it in your neighbor's mailbox. Rub it on your face. You're creative, I'm sure you'll come up with something.

Fun substitutions:
Add gorgonzola or feta cheese instead of cream cheese for the filling. It isn't sticky, but I assure you it is mighty tasty.
Try different sorts of ground meats.
Use Campbells tomato soup instead of tomato sauce (in slightly watered down form, not full on soup form)
Add bell peppers to the beef stuffs

Every once in a while I tweak around the recipe and it seems to live fairly well through it all.
The recipe-ish that I listed is my favorite combination though.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out if you try it!!!!!

Happy cooking!

P.S. AMAGAW I made too much rice/beef filling for the cabbage rolls, and now I have a bunch of it left over!!!
Gratz! Tomorrow you are making stuffed peppers or stuffed tomatoes.

P.P.S. This stuff is pretty acidic. If you make it in a disposable foil roaster, please move to a more suitable container for storage in fridge. Like plastic. It WILL eat foil. Om nom nom nom nom

P.P.P.S. I don't reccommend the saurkraut with caraway seeds. But that is just because I don't like it. Try it if you want to. I will, however, make faces at you for doing so.

P.P.P.P.S. I don't really have anything else, but I needed an even number of notes here. It just FEELS right with four of them, you know?

-Sporks

After i posted this, I got to really craving them.

So I made them!

YUM

Blanched cabbage leaf. I forgot to mention this part:
Let them cool, and them trim the spine bit flush with the leaf for easy folding.


nom nom nom nom


And then you cover it with stuff!


After eleventy million years:


*glomps cabbage rolls and falls over happy*

 

Put chicken in crock pot. Cut an onion into quarters and put it on top. Put in like, a bay leaf and some oregano, or whatever you like. Put in water until the chicken is covered. Poke it with a spoon. Put crockpot on low for like 6 hours. Shred with two forks. Delight!

...

Why do you poke it with a spoon?  To irritate it?