Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

While I was preparing this recipe, I was immediately transported to some 6 or 7 years ago when I was still renting a house with college friends. We would take turns preparing our weekly dinner menu and cooking  it. This dish is one of our favorites from one of my housemate's menu. It was a very comforting saucy dish so fitting to serve during a cold, rainy night at home. Even the husband had fond memories of this dish (we were already together then) as well.

Unfortunately, my version didn't taste anywhere near my housemate's version (hello Girl! Ngayo ko recipe mo, please!) and it disappointed my husband a bit. His verdict: stuffing was bland (because I deliberately put just a mere pinch of salt in it. I thought the hint of paprika will save me because he likes spicy things but no, it didn't).

My husband is my #1 culinary fan. So his disappointment is my disappointment. But the good thing about cooking is you can just keep on trying till you get the perfect recipe. And as this is a very flexible recipe (you can play with the stuffing - if you want it healthier you can use tofu or ground chicken breast), I am sure my household will not get tired of this even if I include it in our weekly menu.

But moving on to the recipe:

What I used:

1 head of large cabbage, each leaf taken off the stalk

Stuffing:
about 200g of lean ground pork
1 small carrot, diced
1 med onion, chopped finely
chopped spring onions
A sprig of flat parsley, chopped
pepper
paprika
salt
olive oil for sauteeing

Sauce:
about a cup of Marinara Sauce, click here for recipe***

***(this can be substituted by 1 piece of tomato chopped and sauteed over garlic and 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, dilute with 1/4 cup water)

How I did it:

1. Gently scrape off the hard part on each cabbage leaf.
2. Steam each of the leaf for about 1-2 mins (just so they can be easily rolled) and set aside.
3. Mix the carrots, onions, parsley, a pinch of pepper, paprika and salt with the ground meat.
4. Heat oil and dump in the meat mixture and saute till slight browned. Set aside to cool for about 10-15 minutes.
5. When the meat has cooled off, scoop about 1 tablespoon of it on each leaf and wrap (just like how you'd wrap spring rolls). Secure the center with a toothpick to prevent the leaf from breaking when you dump it unto the sauce.
6. Reheat the marinara sauce and gently place each of the cabbage rolls unto the sauce. Simmer for about 5-10 minutes depending on how you'd like your leaf to cook. You can also opt to steam the leaves instead and pour the reheated sauce unto it before serving. Whatever works best for you.
7. Serve with hot steaming rice and you're good to go!

This recipe was able to feed 6 hungry stomachs. The roll alone is very filling already so I ate mine with just a few spoonfuls of rice (I think maybe 3). The hubby and the little miss loved it with a lot of sauce so I had to reheat more. I think it would have been better if I added a few spoonfuls of tomato paste unto the meat when I sauteed it. I will try that next time. Even if my household complained of how bland the roll turned out to be, they were still able to clean their respective plates up. Still a happy ending for me, come to think of it.

Recipe: Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce and Ham Bits

This makes a Perfect Sunday Merienda.

As a working mom, I am always on the lookout for easy to prepare recipes. I feel happier if I come across easy to prepare and delicious recipes.

We have a helper at home who is tasked to cook for our little family of 3. But most days, I really prefer to cook our meals by myself. Cooking is a great therapy for me, a respite from all the typing and reading and all-that-boring-stuff-office-people-do kind of thing.

I am a pasta fanatic. Although I have been desperately trying to cut down on carbs recently, I would often choose a pasta meal on my cheat days. A pasta recipe is always easy to whip out. Actually, it was after learning to cook pasta al-dente that I fell in love with cooking. The rest is history, as the cliche goes.

In my side of the family, we've always preferred to prepare homemade tomato sauce for tomato-based dishes. Through the years, we've finally learned how to make the perfectly easy yet tasty homemade tomato sauce. So if you like tomato-based pasta, let me share with you my version which was a recent hit with my co-workers. Their admiration of my home cooking inspired me (and gave me the confidence as well) to share the recipe in this blog.

Fast and Easy Tomato-Basil Sauce

You will need:

1.5 kilos of fresh tomatoes

¼ cup of olive oil

1 medium size red onion (1 large if white)

1 head garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

A pinch of pepper

1 small pouch of tomato paste

1 cup fresh basil or

1 teaspoon dried basil

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Procedure:

Simmering Tomato Sauce

• Wash the ripe tomatoes properly.
• Make a small cross on the bottom of your tomatoes (this trick is just to make it easy for you to peel off the skin later)
• Blanch the tomatoes, drain and put in ice bath or run through cold water. Peel the skin off.
• Chop the tomatoes. Make sure to save the juice as well. You can take out the seeds if you want (but I leave them since seeding takes so much time). Add about a teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix then leave overnight in the fridge.
• Saute chopped red onion in olive oil  until translucent . Add minced garlic. Do not brown the garlic to retain taste. 
• Add Tomato Paste (I used 2/3 of a small pouch on 1.5kilos of fresh tomatoes)
• Add the chopped tomatoes (including the juice), stir and simmer for 5-10 mins. (I personally like to have tomatoes chunks on my sauce so I just simmer for 5mins). Add a cup of fresh basil or a teaspoon if you’re using dried.
• Transfer to blender or food processor and puree. Sauce is good for 1 kilo of cooked pasta (best to use is angel hair/spaghetti pasta). Top with sauteed mushroom-ham and Parmesan cheese. 

This recipe can feed 10 hungry adult stomachs.

To make the mushroom-ham/bacon topping:

You will need:

1 big can of button mushroom (pieces and stem), chopped coarsely

1 med white onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pack sweet ham/or whatever cold cuts you prefer/bacon bits

1 tsps olive oil or bacon fat if you use bacon instead of cold cuts (if you use bacon, cook it ahead so the fat is rendered)

1 tsp butter

Procedure:

• Sauté onion and garlic till translucent over olive oil and butter. 
• Add chopped mushroom and cold cuts/bacon bits.  
• Top over tossed tomato sauce and spaghetti.

It's super easy and you can store the topping and the sauce separately. You can also opt to store the sauce on a sterilized jar for future use. You can probably store it for a week in the fridge or you can opt to freeze it for longer shelf-life and just thaw it in the microwave if you already intend to use it.