Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

A while back, I wrote about my Mother’s stuffed cabbage recipe. She won Recipe Of The Year from the Greystone Power folks, for her version of it. Stuffed Cabbage, or Galumpkis, has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Mama’s heritage is from Russia and Austria. She grew up in a Polish neighborhood in Detroit. It was only when she married my farm boy dad that she came to Georgia and learned how to cook butter beans and corn bread and fried okra. Those Galumpkis were a family tradition in her family, and soon became one in our branch of the family, too.

I read about a stuffed cabbage casserole on a Yahoo forum a couple of months ago, and filed that little tidbit away for future reference. So, yesterday, I was sewing away on my quilt project, and for some reason I started thinking about Galumpkis. And I thought to myself, “There is no way I have time to make them Mama’s way today.” But, oh, the taste of them called to me.

I got up and went to look in the refrigerator, and sure enough, there was that cabbage sitting in there. So, here is what I did with it:

1/2 lb ground meat (your choice, I use a mix of 1/3 beef, 1/3 turkey, and 1/3 pork)
1/2 lb sage breakfast sausage
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked rice
1 small can tomato paste
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
1 small head of cabbage, shredded

In a large dutch oven, cook the ground meat, sausage, bell pepper, onion, and garlic until meat is browned. Stir in all the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a 13 X 9 casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

This tasted a LOT like the stuffed cabbages my Mother makes, but not EXACTLY like it. And it probably won’t win a recipe contest, but hey, if you want the taste but don’t have time, it is a pretty good second. (Don’t tell Mama I cheated, ok?)