Tag: main course
Lebanese Cabbage Rolls
Lebanese Cabbage Rolls
I’m a huge fan of cabbage rolls. These Lebanese-style cabbage rolls are called Malfouf in Arabic. They are very similar in preparation to Lebanese stuffed grape leaves. The filling is a mix of ground beef, rice, and 7 spice. The rolls are simmered below a layer of tomatoes, garlic, with some lemon juice, until the rice is cooked, creating a garlicky, tomatoey, lemon sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 head green cabbage
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp Lebanese 7 spice
- 1 cup uncooked short grain rice
- 10 garlic cloves
- 2 tomatoes sliced
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 4 cups water
- 2 lemons juiced
Instructions
- Heat up oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the rice, salt, pepper, and 7 spice. Set aside and let cool.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Core out the cabbage and carefully remove the leaves. Drop the cabbage leaves in the water for a minute to make pliable. Remove from the pot.
- Place a couple of tbsps of the beef/rice in a cabbage leaf.
- Fold in the sides and roll up. Do this until all of the ground beef is used up.
- Line the bottom of a pot with any extra cabbage leaves. Place the rolls tightly in the pot.
- Cover the top with the tomatoes and garlic.
- Place any remaining rolls on the top. Season with cumin. Pour in 4 cups of water into the pot; enough to cover the rolls. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.
- Squeeze in the lemon juice. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.
- Uncover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Reuben Kielbasa
Reuben Kielbasa
I give all the credit in this creation to the Lord Cheeba, as it guides me to come up with these left field ideas of culinary masterpieces. And here it is: the Reuben Kielbasa. This sausage consists of homemade ground corned beef chuck(because brisket is too expensive to grind), sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and pumpernickel breadcrumbs. The sausage is twisted into kielbasa-sized rings, then hung and smoked for 4 hours. From here, you can grill or pan fry the kielbasa. It can be eaten with sautéed cabbage and fried eggs. It is great on a bun with even more sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. The kielbasa can even be used on a charcuterie board. Anything you don’t plan on consuming in the next week should be wrapped in freezer paper and frozen down.
Equipment
- large bin for brining
- meat grinder
- blender
- sausage stuffer
- Electric Smoker
- meat hooks
Ingredients
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp pink curing salts
- 8 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp allspice berries
- 1 tbsp whole cloves
- 4 bay leaves
- 5 lbs chuck roast
- 16 oz sauerkraut drained
- 8 oz Swiss cheese small cubes
- 1 small rye or pumpernickel loaf processed into breadcrumbs
- 1 bunch parsley chopped
- hog casings
Wood Chips
- hickory
Instructions
- Mix the brining ingredients together in a large bin.
- Add in the chuck. Brine for 10 days.
- Cut up the chuck into cubes for grinding.
- Grind the corned beef Chuck on a coarse ground grinding plate. Thoroughly mix in the sauerkraut, swiss, pumpernickel breadcrumbs, and chopped parsley.
- Squirt the sausage into the hog casings. Twist the sausage into bologna sized rings; about 1lb each.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees. Hang the kielbasa by meat hooks from the top rack in your smoker. Add the wood chips. All the wood chips to ignite for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 160 degrees.
- Smoke the kielbasa for 4 hours.
- Immediately place the kielbasa in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. Drain and freeze whatever you don’t plan on cooking in the next week.
Corned Beef Hash
Corned Beef Hash
Once you make corned beef hash from scratch, you’ll never make the canned variety again. If you happen to have any leftover corned beef, this is a great and easy way to utilize it. I like to add carrots and green pepper to the hash to add another dimension of flavor. Plus it gives the hash nice color. No corned beef hash is complete without being topped with a couple fried eggs.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 2 medium potatoes cut into 1/2” cubes
- 1 large carrot cut into 1/2” cubes
- 1 small green bell pepper cut into 1/2” pieces
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 green onions chopped
- 12 oz corned beef cut into 1/2” cubes
- cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the potatoes, onions, carrots, and bell pepper. Cook for 8 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are almost cooked through.
- Add in the garlic, green onions, and corned beef. Cook for 5 minutes. Season with cracked black pepper.
