Both of my parents were born in Hungary, and, lucky for me, my Mom still loves to make Hungarian dishes. Stuffed Cabbage is a family favorite, especially in the colder months, and I’ve adapted my Mom’s recipe a little bit over time. If you decide to make the dish, be sure to set aside enough time (1-2 hours for prep, 4 hours or longer for cooking time). This is a great leftover meal, as it tastes better when reheated.

Paprika is a key ingredient in Hungarian cooking, so when using it, take the time to look for a good quality Paprika, preferably Hungarian. Hungarian Paprika is a little spicier than Spanish Paprika, and provides a wonderful color as well as needed flavor to the dish. Our local supermarket carries Hungarian Paprika in the spice aisle (Pride of Szeged Hungarian Paprika), and we buy a lot of our spices from Penzey’s – they have several varieties of Paprika, but I prefer to use the Hungarian Sweet.
Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 medium Green Cabbages
• 1 1/2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 pound Ground Pork
• 1/4 cup non-instant Rice
• 1/4 pound Bacon, diced
• 1 medium sweet Onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons Flour
• 1 bag of fresh or one large can Sauerkraut
• 1 Green Pepper, diced
• 1Tomato, diced
• 4 tablespoons good quality Paprika, preferably Hungarian
• Kosher Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• Sour Cream for garnish, if desired

Core cabbage(s). Bring enough water to a boil so that the entire cabbage will be emersed. Boil cabbage (one at a time if using two) for approximately 5 minutes or until leaves are starting to pull away from core. Remove from water and let cool. Once cooled off, carefully remove green leaves until you reach the tougher white leaves. Do not use the white ones for rolling as they are difficult to fold, but roughly chop a few of them to add to the stock pot.

Parboil rice for 10 minutes. While the rice is cooking, combine ground beef, pork, 3 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper in a bowl; mix well to incorporate salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, brown bacon in medium to large stock pot. Remove bacon and half of the grease that was rendered (discard grease). Add onions to remaining bacon grease and cook until translucent. Remove half of the onion mixture and add it along with the rice to the meat mixture; stir to incorporate the onions and rice. Add the flour to the remaining onion mixture in the stock pot and stir for a couple of minutes; this will help eliminate the flour flavor, but help to thicken the base. Add paprika and four cups of water. Stir and bring to a soft boil.

Rinse the sauerkraut in a strainer. Add the diced green pepper and tomato and gently toss to incorporate them together.

On a cutting board, trim off the tough stems of each cabbage leaf as shown in the picture below; this will make the rolling easier.

Put about a tablespoon (depending on the size of the leaf) of the filling into each leaf, and fold bottom to the middle, then each side into the middle, then roll leaf (will resemble an egg roll, as pictured below).

To assemble, put some of the leftover cut-up cabbage leaves into the bottom of the stock pot, then add a little of the sauerkraut mixture. Lightly salt and pepper contents in the pot.

Next, place cabbage rolls in a circle, and fill in gaps with the meatballs. Cover with more cut up cabbage leaves and another layer of the sauerkraut mixture. Lightly salt and pepper again. Continue until you are out of cabbage rolls and meatballs. Finish off with the sauerkraut mixture on top. Add enough water to barely cover mixture.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer/soft boil for at least 4 hours, as you are cooking raw pork. The longer you let it cook, the more flavor you will get out of the dish. Oftentimes, this dish is served with a dollup of sour cream. Enjoy!

Chicken stock is a great substitute whenever using water to add flavor. Whether we are making soup or rice, we always like to have homemade chicken stock in the house; you can make extra and put it in the freezer for later use.

Ingredients:

• Whole Fryer Chicken, cut up
• Ends of four Celery Stalks
• Ends of four Carrots
• Onion, quartered
• Bay Leaf
• Water

Note: We usually cut up the remainder of the celery, carrots and another onion to set aside for later use (chicken soup, etc.).

Lightly salt and pepper chicken and cook it in a 350 degree oven for approximately one hour or until done. Let cool, discard skin and remove chicken from bones for later use.

Add bones, celery, carrots, onion, bay leaf and water (as much as you want, at least enough to cover all ingredients) to stock pot – note that the size of the stock pot all depends on how much stock you want to make. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, but hot enough to have a very low boil. Heat stock for at least two hours – the longer you have it on the heat, the more flavorful your stock will be. Strain the stock and refrigerate, as the fat will naturally rise to the top and you can skim it off for a very low-fat, healthy stock.

For freezing, we put the stock in ice cube trays until it is set, then seal it.

Being married to a former pizza place cook isn’t easy…my husband is a pizza snob. Needless to say, we have tried just about all of the pizza places here and none have met Andy’s approval. We started to buy frozen dough from a really good bread store in order to make our own pizza (then we could blame ourselves if it wasn’t good). However, the store is not in town, and I don’t get up that way too often, so it became an inconvenience. One day I picked up the book The Bread Bible and in it, among the 600+ pages, was a recipe for homemade pizza dough. I made the recipe (only a single serving), and it was good, and over time have just added one ingredient (olive oil) and quadrupled the recipe (we use half and freeze the rest). This really couldn’t be easier, and, if you are like us, you won’t want to buy frozen or delivery pizza ever again – this tastes better and is a lot less expensive!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups plus 4 tablespoons Unbleached Flour
• 2 teaspoons Sugar
• 1 package Active Dry Yeast
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
• 1 1/3 cups lukewarm Water
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil

Combine the flour, sugar and yeast and stir. Add the salt right before you are ready to add the water, as salt can kill the yeast. Make a well, and pour the water and one tablespoon olive oil into the well.

Stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are fully incorporated together (I start with the wooden spoon and then use my hands). Form into a ball and put the other tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of the bowl. Rub the oil on the entire ball of dough, place back into bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

If you are using the dough within four hours, let sit out to rise. Otherwise, put it into the refrigerator. Once you are ready to use it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, separate the dough that you need, and work the dough back into another ball and let it sit covered for 15 minutes to allow it to rise again.

Liberally flour work surface and roll out dough into desired shape/thickness. Add sauce and toppings, bake and enjoy!