Month: February 2006

Homemade Stuffed Cabbage Roll Recipe

Picture of prepared Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
This recipe is a bit of work, but the rewards are well worth the effort. We’ve made these cabbage rolls for years, and they’re always well received at the dining room table. Cabbage rolls require slow cooking for the flavors to blend, so they’re cooked in a slow oven. Some folks cook their cabbage rolls in a pot on the stove, but we find our cabbage rolls stay together better if we bake them in a covered baking pan. These cabbage rolls are really good on a cold winter Sunday afternoon served with buttered, toasted rye bread as we have in the picture.

Recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls also known as Blind Pigeons

  • 1 large head of cabbage
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 pound lean ground pork
  • 1 large sweet onion
  • 1 tsp Nina chopped garlic (or 2 cloves garlic chopped)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup cooked basmati rice
  • 1 large (28 oz) can tomato juice
  • 8 to 10 slices of bacon
  1. To precook the cabbage, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
  2. While the pot is heating, core the head of cabbage. Place the head of cabbage in the boiling water and cook just until you can start to peel the cabbage leaves off.
  3. Peel the leaves from the head of cabbage, and place the cooked cabbage leaves on a plate.
  4. Chop the onion finely.
  5. Cook the lean ground beef and lean ground pork along with chopped onions. Add
    salt and pepper to taste. Cook until onions are tender and beef and pork are cooked
    thoroughly.
  6. In the meantime cook rice according to package directions.
  7. Combine the cooked meat mixture and the cooked rice.
  8. Place strips of bacon evenly spaced in large roasting pan.
  9. Take a large cabbage leaf and cut a “v” out of the bottom of the leaf to remove the tough core section.
  10. Place a large spoonful of the meat and rice mixture towards the top and center of the leaf.
  11. To roll the cabbage rolls take the bottom edge of the leaf and fold it towards the center over the meat and rice mixture. Take the side of the cabbage leaf and tuck it under the meat mixture. Take the top and fold it down over the center of leaf. Take the bottom of leaf and fold it towards the center of the leaf. Roll the leaf so the open edge is under the cabbage roll.
  12. Place prepared cabbage rolls on top of bacon slices in roasting pan. Repeat until all meat mixture is finished.
  13. Pour tomato juice over prepared cabbage rolls. Place extra cabbage leaves
    over the top of the prepared cabbage rolls. This keeps the moisture in.
    Slow cook the cabbage rolls in a 300-325° F. oven for 1 to 2 hours*.

Serve with toasted buttered rye bread.

*Cook longer to allow the flavors to blend. Since everything is cooked, the baking time is to allow seasonings to mix together.

Marinaded Pork Roast Recipe

Marinated pork roast prepared
This is a recipe for a tasty roast of pork. It takes only a little bit of time to mix the marinade ingredients, and a few hours to allow the roast to absorb the flavors. We cooked our roast in the oven, but with a little care you could barbecue this roast over slow coals and have a delicious smoked roast.

  • 3 – 4 pound pork roast

    • Marinade

Place all ingredients (except roast) in a reclosable plastic bag and mix well. Pierce roast on all
sides. Place roast in marinade in plastic bag and turn to coat all sides of
roast. Place in refrigerator at 3 hours or overnight. Make sure to turn the
roast as it marinades. Slowly cook pork roast uncovered until done 165
degrees.

A Quick Recipe for Pasta Salad

McCormick Salad Supreme Pasta SaladHere’s a way to make a delicious pasta salad with ease.

We make our Supreme Pasta Salad using whole wheat pasta which fits the lower carb craze, is nutritionally better than semolina pasta and is high in fiber. For all of those reasons we tend to lean toward whole wheat choices in all of our daily cooking.

Recipe for McCormick Salad Supreme Pasta Salad
Ingredients:

  • 8oz cooked pasta of your preference [we used Penne]
  • 1/2 cup Italian Salad Dressing
  • 2 tbsp McCormick Salad Supreme

Directions:

  1. Cook pasta according to directions on the package. You can use any pasta that you find appealing.
  2. Add the Italian salad dressing to a 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup. Mix in McCormick Salad Supreme Seasoning. Mix until well blended.
  3. Drain the pasta, and place in a suitable sized bowl. Pour about half of the Salad Supreme / Salad Dressing mix over top, and mix. Then pour the remaining Salad Supreme mix over the pasta and mix until pasta is thoroughly covered. Make sure to mix gently so as not to damage pasta.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, mix, and serve cold.

Here’s a picture of McCormick Salad Supreme Seasoning. It’s color is quite red, which comes from the paprika, but it also has Romano cheese, sesame seeds, red pepper and other spices. You can click on the image to see all of the product information in our store. Picture of Salad Supreme

Savory Caribbean taste with this recipe for Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Picture of Jerk Chicken BreastThis Jamaican Jerked Chicken recipe is a breeze to make. Simply add McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning into a heavy duty one gallon reclosable plastic bag. Then add some canola oil, water, and lemon juice. Mix the McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning Blend well with the liquid ingredients, add up to 4 chicken breasts, thighs, or a mix of parts. Then flip the bag over several times to coat the chicken with the Jamaican Jerk Seasonings. Place the bag in a refrigerated location for several hours. Turn the bag over every 1/2 hour or so, so that the Jamaican Jerk seasonings can penetrate the meat evenly. Then either grill until done, or bake for about an hour at 350° F.

This Jamaican Jerk Chicken recipe can be complemented by serving the Jamaican Jerked Chicken with Pigeon Peas and Rice, and a small salad of lettuce, cucumber and cherry tomatoes with French Dressing on the side.

The exact mix of ingredients for making 4 Jamaican Jerk Chicken Breasts are:

Cacciucco Soup (Italian Seafood Soup)

Cacciucco Soup in a bowl
Back in the olden days, I worked in an Italian themed restaurant doing the low end chores that a lad of 16 would be offered. I actually had a fun time doing menial tasks, and the restaurant had a fun gang to work with. It was a really busy place too. Way back then there were ‘themed’ restaurants. At GD Graffitti Syndicated, the theme was a depression era sleep-easy.

The decor of GD Graffitti’s was a late 1920’s to early 1930’s speakeasy. The waitresses and waiters dressed in gangster outfits, with the menu items appropriately named such as ‘Lefty the Lobster.’ It was a really popular restaurant with a stupendous salad bar that came with the meal. Remember that this was in the olden days, and this was the beginning of the salad bar. Even in the modern era you’d be hard pressed to find a salad bar that could match what Graffitti’s provided, over 200 different items with at least 8 kinds of melons alone.

As part of being the hired help, we’d get a free meal at the end of the night. Generally everyone wanted the higher end foods, but to tell the truth they had a killer soup called Cacciucco that was offered as a main course. It was truly a great soup, and I ate it often. They made it in this huge steam pot that could hold 50 gallons or more of soup. Wow!

Over the years I thought about that soup alot, and my taste buds remembered it well, but I could never remember the name so that I could find a recipe. Well, I finally remember the name, and made the recipe last week, so here it is:

Recipe for Cacciucco Soup
This is a two step recipe.

Step 1 Stock

  • 1 carrot, chopped into large chunks
  • 1 leek sliced thin, white part only
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped in large chunks
  • 2 tbsp Parsley Flakes
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 10 Black Peppercorns
  • 1 can chopped clams
  • 1 cup white wine
  1. Put 2 quarts of water in a large souppot.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients, except the wine.
  3. Bring to a bowl, and then simmer for 30 – 45 minutes.
  4. Add the wine, and allow to simmer 5 – 10 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate.

Step 2 – Soup!

  • 1 small lobster tail (cooked)
  • 1/2 lb codfish
  • 1/2 lb mussels
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper
  1. Cut the Lobster tail and the cod into bite sized pieces and add to the stock.
  2. Add all other ingredients (except the mussels), and simmer for 20 minutes
  3. Wash the mussels and add to soup. Cook for about 10 more minutes.
  4. Serve with fresh breadsticks and garlic-butter.