Italian Cabbage Rolls

Italian Cabbage Rolls

This recipes tastes best made one day in advance.

Ingredients:

1 large head cabbage
1 cup cooked rice
1 1/2 pounds ground beef or pork, or mixture of both
1 medium onion
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/2 cup Provolone cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Fontina cheese, grated
1 (29 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Directions:

First, you need to remove the leaves from the cabbage. The best way to do this is to core the cabbage, then immerse the whole head in boiling water until the outer leaves begin to loosen. Remove cabbage from the water and carefully peel away as many outer leaves as will come off easily. You will need 10 - 15 large cabbage leaves.

Meanwhile, combine rice, ground meat, onion, salt, pepper, parsley, sage, Provolone and Fontina in a large bowl. Mix with hands to blend together. Divide mixture (1/3 cup fulls) and shape into meat rolls. Place each meat roll at the base of a cabbage leaf and roll each leaf around the meat and fold ends under. Secure with a toothpick, if needed. Place rolls seam side down in an 11-inch x 7-inch baking dish

Spread crushed tomatoes over cabbage rolls.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees.

The cabbage rolls can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator or frozen.