Unrolled Cabbage Rolls (Moose Meat Halupki)

Halupki are Eastern European cabbage rolls. These were a staple in my Croatian grandmother's kitchen. Seasoned ground beef, rice and onion wrapped in cabbage leaves and simmered in a sweet tomato sauce. They were labor intensive to say the least. My version is made with ground moose meat and locally grown cabbage and onion. Most importantly, they are quicker to make but every bit as delicious. ~Patti

Ingredients:

1 pound ground moose meat or hamburger

1 medium head cabbage, sliced thin

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

salt & pepper to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Sauce:

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)

1 can stewed tomatoes (15 oz)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2-3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Serves: 4

1. Make the sauce: Drain the stewed tomatoes and add to saucepan. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, smashed garlic clove and lemon juice. Stir and season with salt and pepper. This is a quick sauce - just needs to simmer for about 5 minutes. You can make this ahead of time and set aside. Just make sure you heat it thoroughly before serving (and remove the smashed garlic clove).

2. Cook rice according to directions. Set aside until needed.

3. Brown meat, season with salt and pepper. Set aside until needed.

Then...

Chop onion and cabbage.

Sauté onion in 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook until translucent and lightly golden. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in skillet, sauté cabbage until it starts getting some color and is slightly wilted, but still with a bit of crunch. Remove from heat.

You're ready to plate. Put a scoop of rice in a bowl, layer with onions, meat and cabbage. 

Top with as much tomato sauce as you like.

Dig in!! All the taste in half the time!

Traditional cabbage rolls are not exactly difficult to eat, but this version makes it super easy - no need to mess with that time consuming cutting, haha. Simply mix together in your bowl and bring a delicious forkful to your mouth...

Baby it's cold outside! 19* is not actually that cold by Alaska standards for December, but cold enough to crave some nice hot comfort food!