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Cabbage Soup
Lidey Heuck
846 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
846
About 1 hour
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Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium. Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt. Sauté until onions are pale gold at the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer half of the onions to a small bowl and set aside for the cabbage.
Add rice and 1 cup stock to the onions in the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is about halfway cooked (it should still be a bit firm), 8 to 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the herbs, scallions and lemon zest, and mix well. Transfer ¼ cup of the herb-lemon zest mixture to a small bowl and stir in the yogurt, ½ teaspoon garlic and a large pinch of salt; refrigerate until serving.
When the rice is ready, add it to the bowl with the herbs and mix well. Add the pork, ½ teaspoon salt and remaining garlic, and gently mix to combine. Add the egg and mix to combine.
In the same skillet (you don’t need to wash it), melt butter and heat remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium. Add the cabbage and reserved sautéed onions. (If it doesn’t all fit, you can let some of the cabbage wilt and shrink, then add the rest.) Season cabbage with 1 teaspoon salt and sauté until wilted, about 5 minutes. Cover and let cook until tender, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Uncover and cook until the cabbage starts to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes more.
Transfer half of the softened cabbage to a medium bowl. Spread cabbage in the pan in an even layer. Dollop the pork mixture evenly on the cabbage.Top the pork with the remaining cabbage. Add remaining ½ cup stock and the lemon juice. Cover the pan and bake until the cabbage is very tender, about 1 hour.
Remove the skillet from the oven and turn on the broiler. Uncover pan, sprinkle the cabbage with Parmesan, then broil until nicely browned on top, 1 to 3 minutes. Top cabbage with more herbs and serve with the yogurt sauce.
Just double checking: while the recipe specifies cooking steps for the onions, the rice, and the cabbage in the pan, pork is NOT? Is that correct? That raw pork is mixed with the cooked rice? I keep thinking I missed something....but I can't find that step (browning the ground pork) in the recipe.
"A wonderful veggietarian protein replacement for the pork would be soaked soy curls marinated in olive oil, nutritional yeast, a touch of molasses and soy sauce/liquid aminos." The comment I copied from the orginal article in NYTs for this receipe. Looking forward to trying as it's even VEGAN a seemingly a great idea. I've used "Soy Curls" a wonderful ingerdient made by Butler Foods which is a simple & non 'processed' ingredient I've used much thta unless you are alergic to soy you love!
I thought this looked and sounded great - I found the actual recipe to be a little confusing - so I just kind of made up my own steps. I will make this again but wish the NYT would revisit the recipe steps.
This was a hit, but I sped up the prep and reduced dishes considerably by doing the following: browned pork (I used italian sausage - delicious!) in the skillet. Added the onions and cooked until translucent. Added the cabbage & salt, and stirred until wilted. Added a cup of cooked rice (honestly, you could leave the rice out and not notice it). Stirred it all around to get acquainted then stuck the whole thing under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top. Served w/yogurt sauce. Winner!!
I wholeheartedly agree, Tom. The recipe steps were too long (each "step" was actually 3 or 4) and the "herbs" in step 3 apparently include oregano, despite it being listed separately in the ingredients list. I typically read recipes through once or twice before making them to make sure I understand the steps involved before starting, but this one needed a careful eye before and all throughout the cooking process.
I made this tonight and it was terrible! Sorry but I'm a seasoned cook and I followed the recipe word for word. The pork was mushy and tasteless. Now I'm trying to figure out if I can make something out of it or just toss it.
It actually makes only four servings. And it’s expensive to buy the herbs if you don’t have an herb garden. But it does taste good. My summary: takes way too long to make, makes too much of a mess in the kitchen. Recipe not entirely clear.
This recipe reminds me of a favorite by my immigrant Grandmother, but hers was a peasant variety of layered homemade sauerkraut and pork from Eastern Europe.
Made as directed with ground pork. Really delicious and would make again. If you don’t have a dishwasher, be forewarned that you’ll use a lot of pots and bowls.
Hungarians call this dish Rakott Kaposzta. It's essentially the same except for using sour cream instead of yogurt.
yes, in step 6 the raw pork is baked one hour with the cooked rice and cabbage. The pork is not browned first.
This is so delicious it's in our regular rotation now. Much simplified: brown pork (I use italian sausage - worth it!), add onion (can sub leeks) until translucent, add cabbage (can sub any hearty green like kale or mixed braising greens) and stir to wilt. Add cooked rice and zest from whole lemon. A generous scoop of *sauerkraut* here takes the dish to another level, imo. Stir and heat everything. Serve as is if pressed for time, or broil to caramelize top. Serve w/yogurt sauce. 1 pan, 30 mins!
This had a great flavor, but counting the hour in the oven, this took 2 1/2 hours to make. Way too long for anything other than a holiday dinner. The ingredients call for black pepper which is never used. Is the oregano part of the chopped herbs? After removing some of the chopped herbs for the yogurt sauce, the rest is added to the meat and rice mixture. Suddenly at the end, you top the servings with more chopped herbs. Where do they come from? I’m out!
Not as clearly written as one expects from Melissa Clark, but was delicious. Leftovers reheated beautifully. Next time we’ll triple the sauce, and perhaps use more cabbage, or serve another veg alongside.
The recipe is for 6 servings. For just two, divide all ingredients by 3 and proceed. Honestly, if it was me, I'd just divide the ingredients by 2 and have two very generous servings. Suit yourself.
Agree that this was a surprisingly poor recipe in terms of flow and the day I opted to make it was not ideal with all the second guess moments. That said, an adventure! Will modify according to pro tips from fellow chefs. Also yikes on the herbs at the end!
I enjoyed this dish... however, it was Ling and confusing when I read it the first time through. I made it easier by browing the pork ahead of time, and also making the rice ahead of time and then adjusting and assembling it as a casserole. It was much better than anticipated, and I think off-roading and revising the steps/prep helped.
Oy. Skip the recipe honestly or look for a faster cabbage recipe. So many confusing steps, so many dirty bowls, and no way is this done in 1.5 hours. I agree with the other comments; just use cooked rice; I would have increased the cabbage and rice but decreased the pork amount if I made it again. But I won’t be.
I love bowls! Still in the oven, can’t wait.
I used turkey instead of pork and followed the recipe as written. We threw it out and had sandwiches for dinner. It simply was a miss. A bit labor intensive, which I did gladly. I have cooked dozens of New York Times recipes over the years and they are all delicious. This one, however, was not.
Made this and it tasted great. But the method needs a re-write. Spent as much time trying to decipher the instructions as I did cooking.
I appreciated the idea of a one-pot meal with a lot of cabbage and a modicum of meat; subsequently, I made this dish. I found the recipe called for many bowls and steps, making it particularly daunting. The lengthy cooking time also surprised me, although, in retrospect, it shouldn't have. If there were a way to make a dish that is similar to this one, but far less complicated, that would be ideal.
I had many substitutions for what was on hand. My green, not savoy cabbage was too small so I added chopped beet stems to onions and greens in with the herbs. I cubed ~ a pound of boneless pork chops, gently sautéed separately & stirred in. Plenty of chopped garlic scapes in place of the garlic. We're thinning small onions now & the green tops come with them. No long grain rice, basmati instead, and I may have overdone it with the lemon zest, we'll see. Smells Magnificent! Warm summer kitchen.
A lot of work for a tasteless dish. If you still decide to make it, brown pork first to give casserole some flavor.
Saute chopped onions, when browned, add pork. After pork is browned, add 2/3c rice and 1/2 cup stock. Cook covered for 10 min, then move everything to the side and add butter, cabbage and salt. Stir cabbage on one side, then cover and cook 5 min. Uncover, add 1/2 c stock, herbs, and juice from one lemon. Scrape browned bits and stir all together, then let simmer for 5 min uncovered. Turn broiler on, sprinkle layer of Parm on top, and broil for 3ish minutes. Serve with herbed yogurt
Did anyone else have a problem with the cabbage leeching out too much liquid while cooking the extra 1/2 cup of stock? Agree with the simplifications - very complex for a stuffed cabbage variant.
Yea, the raw pork cooks during the hour bake. This was a unexpectedly delicious casserole. Served it with a tomato cucumber salad and lavash with zaatar.
This really takes more like 2 hours if you haven’t prepped in advance
the steps are ridiculous, don’t look at them. the point is to cook pork (or veg alternative), cabbage, onions together, then bake with herbs and rice and lemon and garlic. then cover w cheese and yogurt sauce.
This recipe is absolutely ridiculous. I am a cook w decades of experience and this was infuriating to prepare: unnecessarily splitting up ingredients into 99 bowls,silly steps,lots of expensive herbs, and barely a mediocre outcome. Even the parmigiano on top doesn’t make sense: it should be Gruyère or similar (we left it out), I gave it two stars because at least we will eat it and not toss it. You could read through and simplify the circus directions of preparation , but don’t waste your time!
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