One of our favorite comfort food meals for chilly nights, you can get really creative with the mix of veggies you add to the filling. We usually use Collard Greens but you can definitely use more traditional Cabbage leaves, too.
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(1) bunch Collard Greens, trim the stems from the leaves
(1) bunch Green Onions or Green Garlic washed, trimmed, chopped
(1) large Sweet Potato peeled and grated
(2-3) ribs Cutting Celery washed trimmed and finely chopped
(2) cups cooked rice
(1) pound cooked ground Beef, Goat, Lamb, Pork Sausage or 2 cups chopped fresh Mushrooms
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Wash, trim and blanch Collard/Cabbage leaves in boiling salted water. Remove with tongs and plunge in cold water just to cool. Stack on work surface and prepare filling. This makes the leaves a lot easier to roll up.
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Prepare the filling: Saute the grated Sweet Potato with Cutting Celery and Green Onions/Garlic in 2T olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Add cooked ground meat or mushrooms, stir in the cooked and allow mixture to cool enough to handle.
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Spread 1/2-3/4 cup of the filling along each Collard leaf, roll up and place in buttered/oiled baking dish. Continue until dish is full, you can squeeze them in. If your leaves are very big you can cut them in half or use more filling but they hold together better if they are smaller.
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Bechamel Sauce: Make a roux in a saucepan with 4Tablespoons butter and 4Tablespoons flour. Add 1-1/2 cups milk, salt and pepper, grated nutmeg to season*. Stir and cook until thickened, pour over prepared Cabbage Rolls.
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Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
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*We also like to make these with Curry Spice and if you like you can add some grated cheese on top for the last 5-10 minutes of baking.
