Portuguese Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

My husband is Portuguese - pretty much 100%, with a dash of "Pollock" tossed in for good measure. Explains a lot, huh? :) I'm kidding - he is a great man, very hard-working, pretty smart and a good cook in his own right. They practically beg him to cook at the firehall! Anyway, because of his heritage, there are a few Portuguese recipes floating around in the family. One of them is for Cabbage Rolls. Then there is Kale Soup and Portuguese Sweet Bread. An old friend from my days in Tucson was looking for a recipe for cabbage rolls, and since my red pen needs a rest from its busy day of essay grading, I hopped on up to look for the recipe and type it up. So you get lucky today and get two awesome recipes. You can get the linguica in Kroger sometimes. It is a spicy portuguese sausage... kind of a cross between hard chorizo and pepperoni... hard to explain, but worth the find.

PORTUGUESE STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

1 lg. head green cabbage
1 1/2 t. salt

Stuffing:
1 3/4 lb. linguica, chopped
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 c. onion, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped
1 c. mushrooms
1/2 c. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
12 oz. can whole tomatoes, crushed and drained (reserve the liquid)

In a large pot, place cabbage in salted water. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 2 minutes or until leaves are flexible. Drain and cool.

Heat oil in saute pan. Lightly saute onion for about 2-3 minutes. Add in sausage, beef, celery, mushrooms, tomatoes and garlic and saute on medium low for about an hour stirring occasionally.

Separate cabbage leaves while filling cooks. chop the smaller leaves and stems of larger leaves and add to filling mixture.

When filling is cooked, preheat oven to 350'. In each leave, place approximately 1/2 c. of cooked stuffing. Fold two sides over stuffing, then roll up from the end. Arrange the rolls, seam side down in a well-greased casserole dish. Pour the reserved tomato liquid over all. Cover tightly and bake for 30 minutes. Serve over rice.

That's all for today!! Until next time, stay warm and loved, my friends!