Fare With A Flair: Chou farci a comforting, tasty fall meal

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As the nights are getting cooler, I’m finding myself spending more time in the kitchen making comforting fall meals.

This time of year, my market basket often has a variety of cabbages. I love the deep purple cabbages that I can make into a hearty bortsch or shred into an evening salad.

The beautiful Savoy cabbages are works of art with their deep green ruffled leaves.

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It’s this variety that I favour for my cabbage rolls, since they are more mild and tender and easier to work with.

This week’s recipe is for a relatively unknown French dish called chou farci. It’s like a giant cabbage roll that’s made in a round pan. I like to make the filling with ground lamb, but you can certainly substitute a combination of ground beef and pork. You can also be flexible with the herbs in this dish. While this recipe uses sage or thyme, you can consider using fresh dill, which will be more reminiscent of a typical cabbage roll.

This version gets baked in the oven and I like to serve it with a warm tomato sauce which is not typical, but very tasty.

Chou Farci

(Serves 6-8)

1 large Savoy cabbage

1 lb. (500 g) ground lamb (or a combination of pork and beef)

1 onion, or leek (white part only) diced

1 stalk of celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

3 cups (750 ml) of diced, assorted mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

*2 tsp. (10 ml) chopped fresh thyme or sage

1/4 cup (50 ml) tomato paste

1 tsp. (5 ml) salt

1/2 tsp. (2 ml) pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup (175ml) chicken stock

1/2 cup (175 ml) bread crumbs

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3 tbsp. (45 ml) chopped parsley

3 cups (750 ml) of warm tomato sauce for serving

Directions:

1. Bring large pot of water to the boil. With a sharp paring knife, remove 10 to 12 of the leaves from cabbage. Blanch 3 leaves at a time in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Remove and let cool.

2. When all the leaves have been blanched remove about 2 inches of the vein from the bottom of each leaf and discard. Set the leaves aside.

3. In a large skillet or wok, cook ground lamb over medium high heat until lightly browned and cooked through.

4. Add onion, celery and carrot and cook until vegetables are just tender.

5. Add mushrooms and cook a further 3 to 4 minutes.

6. Stir in garlic, herbs, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Cook a further 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

7. Preheat oven to 350F. (180C) Using a greased 9-inch springform pan, start to arrange cabbage leaves in a circular pattern making sure there is at least a 3 inch overhang of the leaves. (You will use about 6 to 8 of the leaves depending on their size.)

8. Place an additional leaf on the bottom of the pan to cover up any gaps.

9. Combine egg and chicken stock. Add to meat mixture along with breadcrumbs and parsley. Stir well to combine.

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10. Spoon  mixture into the cabbage-lined springform pan. Smooth top with a spatula.

11. Fold overhanging leaves up over top of filling. Place any remaining cabbage leaves evenly over the top.

12. Place on a baking sheet and cover loosely with foil. Bake for 45 -50 minutes.

13. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes before inverting onto a plate and releasing springform. Serve with warm tomato sauce.

*Note you can substitute 1/3 cup (75 ml) chopped fresh dill for the thyme or sage.

1/2 cup chopped bacon is a nice addition and can be added in Step 3.

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