Julia Child Cabbage Stuffed With Leftover Turkey and Sausage

Submitted by Julesong

"This layered extravaganza is deliciously slow-cooked, and is a wonderful way to use your leftover turkey from the holidays! Makes a good after-Thanksgiving or New Year's Eve/Day dinner party dish. Original recipe was from "Julia Child's Kitchen." Although the preparation sounds a bit complicated, all the steps are well laid out and it's not difficult to prepare. Guaranteed to impress! Recipe posted by request."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 20mins
• Ingredients: 17
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 2 1⁄2 lbs cabbage
• 6 ounces lean salt pork, rind removed,cut into 12 slices about 1/4 inch thick
• 2 cups finely minced onions
• 1 thinly sliced carrot
• 1 thinly sliced onion
• 4 cups ground leftover cooked turkey
• 1 1⁄2 cups sausage meat
• 2 eggs
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon pepper
• 3⁄4 teaspoon thyme
• 1⁄4 teaspoon allspice
• 2 -3 cups beef stock, divided
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon butter, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

directions

1. Special equipment: oven-safe large 2 1/2 or 3 quart round-bottomed bowl.
2. Two days prior to making the dish: remove the core from the cabbage, wrap the head tightly in plastic, and place it in the freezer; the day you're going to make the dish thaw the frozen head in hot water and the leaves will easily peel off.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. In a pot, boil some water; blanch the slices of salt pork by immersing them in the boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes, then rinse them in cold water to halt the cooking and pat them dry.
5. In a skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sauté the minced onions until tender, about 7 minutes.
6. Take 3/4 of the cooked onions and set aside for stuffing; take the remaining cooked onions and set them aside for the sauce.
7. Using 1 tablespoon of olive oil, in a small pan over medium heat lightly brown the carrot and thinly sliced onion, about 5 minutes.
8. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground cooked turkey, sausage, eggs, cloves, salt, pepper, thyme, allspice, and the cooked onions reserved for the stuffing, and mix well; add 5 tablespoons (or more, to moisten enough so that the stuffing will adhere to cabbage leaves- see steps below) of the stock and mix.
9. Take the large oven-safe round-bottomed bowl and line the bottom of it with half of the blanched salt pork strips, then lay half of the sliced carrots and onions on top.
10. Take the peeled cabbage leaves and select the largest and best to line the bottom (covering the pork, carrots, and onion) and sides of the bowl- place the leaves with the ends down and the stem-side up.
11. Spread a layer of the stuffing mixture, about 1/2-inch thick, on the bottom and sides of the bowl (which are now covered with the cabbage leaves), then press some smaller cabbage leaves on top of the stuffing.
12. Repeat the process until the bowl is filled to within 1/2-inch of the top, occasionally slipping a large green leaf down the sides of the bowl, if necessary, to be sure that no gaps appear between the leaves.
13. Cover with a final layer of cabbage leaves and the remaining pork and carrot/onion mixture, then pour in enough beef stock to come within 1 inch of the bowl rim.
14. Place the bowl on a pan (to catch drippings) and place in the lower-middle section of the preheated oven; cook for 30 minutes- the cabbage should simmer.
15. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours; it is done when you place a thermometer into the thickest part of the bowl and the temperature reads 165 degrees F.
16. Check it occasionally as it bakes- you want to keep the cabbage at a slow simmer, and you might need to add additional stock if too much evaporates.
17. When the cabbage is almost done and there's only about 15 minutes left for it to bake, prepare the sauce: over medium heat in a saucepan, stir together the tomato and the remaining cooked minced onion, and simmer for 10 minutes.
18. Remove the cabbage from the oven, remove the pork, carrot, and onion from the top layer, and drain off 1 cup of the liquid from the bowl; add the liquid to the tomato mixture and simmer an additional 5 minutes.
19. Place a warm serving dish upside-down over the bowl and, while holding the dish in place, carefully un-mold the cabbage by turning bowl and dish over.
20. Remove the pork, carrot, and onion mixture from where it was on the bottom of the bowl (which is now the top of the mold).
21. In a saute pan, brown the pork strips.
22. To serve, pour the tomato sauce around the base of the molded cabbage and garnish with the browned pork strips.

Reviews

[Michele in NJ]

Wasn't going to review this because I changed it quite a bit. Ended up making it more like a soup. I made the meat mixture into large meatballs, chopped up all of the cabbage and cooked in the crockpot for 8 hours. Next time I think I'll use sage sausage and for the 4 cups of turkey I'm going to try 2 cups turkey and 2 cups beef. Only for the reason that my BF did not enjoy the turkey taste or texture with his cabbage. I enjoyed this enough to take it for my lunch every day last week. Thanks for a great way to use up all of that turkey that was taking up half of my freezer!