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!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of thinly sliced Skirt Steak or Flank Steak

Marinade:

• 4 tablespoons of Peanut Oil
• 2 stalks of Lemon Grass, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
• About 20 Kaffir Lime leaves, julienne
• ½ Serrano Pepper (or to your taste)
• 1 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup Brown Sugar, loosely packed
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Kosher Salt

For the salad:

• Rice Stick Noodles (I am using fresh ones today)
• Julienne of Carrot
• Bean sprouts
• Green Onion, chopped
• Chopped mixed herbs such as Cilantro, Mint and Thai Basil
• Limes and peppers to garnish

Heat a pan up with the peanut oil and fry the lemon grass, Kaffir limes leaves, garlic and Serrano’s for about 3 – 4 minutes over medium heat. This will help extract some of their luscious flavors.

Add the vinegar, water, soy sauce, brown sugar and salt adding the wet ingredients first to help dissolve the sugar instead of caramelizing it (that will come later on the grill). Lightly boil for 10 minutes uncovered reducing the liquid somewhat. After 10 minutes, pour the marinade into a bowl and let it completely cool down; you don’t want to add the meat to a warm marinade for bacteria reasons.

Whatever cut of meat you use, make sure it’s sliced real thin – this is a key part to help the marinade do its magic and to get maximum charring surface for caramelizing.

When the marinade is cool, reserve about a half cup by straining out the solids to make a smooth sauce. Place the meat in the rest of the marinade, chunks and all. Refrigerate this way for 4 – 8 hours.

Preheat the grill to smoking hot! Prep the salad ingredients and make the rice stick noodles according to the instructions on the package. When the noodles are done, run them under cold water to prevent them from sticking to each other and to cool them down to stop the cooking.

Grill the meat directly over an intense fire, scraping off any solids from the marinade while laying down the beef.

Let the meat caramelize well. Note: There is a thin line between caramelized and burnt!

Assemble the salad as shown or however you like. Serve the reserved sauce on the side as sort of salad dressing. Everything can be served cold but if the meat if warm that’s okay.

Ingredients:
Flank Steak

For marinade:
Juice of Lemon
Zest of Lemon
Juice of Lime
Zest of Lime
1 Serrano Pepper
¼ cup Soy Sauce
¼ cup Fish Sauce
2 cloves Garlic
1 Green Onion
2 teaspoons ground Coriander
Handful of Cilantro
3 tablespoons dark Brown Sugar

Place all of the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Slice flank steak across the grain into thin strips.

Place the slices of flank steak in a bag along with the marinade. Marinate for a few hours.

Weave the strips of beef onto some skewers.

They should cook up very fast.