Married to Davis: Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage (Holubtsi)

I have such fond memories of my Baba (Grandma) making stuffed cabbage. Everything she makes is filled with simplicity and love. And you can taste it -- the sweet cabbage with the delicious, meaty filling! It just warms the soul.

Here is my take on stuffed cabbage -- the Ukrainian way.

Ingredients for the filling:

2 cups prepared rice
1 pound ground beef
1 Tbsp thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil

Preparation for the filling:

Cook the rice (1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water or chicken broth)
Add some olive oil to the bottom of a large pot
Saute onion and garlic
Add ground beef and brown
Add seasonings
Add tomato paste
Mix well, then add cooked rice
Mix together the meat mix and rice well

Preparation for the cabbage:

In a large pot, boil water with some salt
Core the head of cabbage
Add the entire head of cabbage to boiling water for around 10 minutes
Remove cabbage from water and gently pull off entire leaves. Once it becomes hard to remove leaves, put the head back in the boiling water to soften the remaining leaves.
In order to fill the cabbage leaves and roll them up, you need to take a paring knife and cut off some of the spine of the leaf (see picture).

Filling, rolling, and cooking the cabbage:

Pour some olive oil in the bottom of a 9x13 dish
With one cabbage leaf in front of you (spine side down), add about 1/3 cup of filling (depending on size of leaf) and fold over one side of the leaf. Tuck in the sides and then roll the rest of the way (see picture).
Place in dish and continue until all of the filling is gone (should make about 12)
Drizzle the top with olive oil, cover with foil, and cook in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until the cabbge is tender and slightly browned. *You could probably also cook this in a crock pot -- high for a few hours. I haven't tried it, but if you do -- please comment below with how you did it!*
Enjoy!