Cabbage Rolls for Dinner

We had a strange couple days in Wisconsin.  Weather wise that is.  In the last twenty four hours we have had sleet, snow, thunder, lightning, thick fog, flooding with unseasonable warm temperatures and tonight we could get seven inches of snow with temperatures falling into the single digits.  I wish it would make up it's mind. 

Because I was home and had time to cook a little today, I'm posting what we are having for supper tonight.  It seems that Tuesday is turning into recipe day on my blog.  I made Cabbage Rolls.  I have been making this recipe for a long time.  The first time I made them was almost forty five years ago.  I was a newlywed and wanted to impress my husband.  Little did I know that I set a prescient that I could cook and I have been doing it ever since.  I always make extra and freeze some for a later meal.

Cabbage Rolls

1 medium cabbage
1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup precooked rice (either dry minute rice or cooked rice)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 can of tomato sauce
1/3 cup of water

Remove the core and outer leaves of the cabbage and cook in boiling water for about 8 minutes.
I usually just put it in the microwave until the leaves peel off easily.  Do not overcook because the leaves will fall apart when you start to assemble them.

Meanwhile combine raw ground beef, milk, rice, onion, salt and 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.  Mix this well.

Take one cabbage leaf at a time, lay it flat and put in a generous spoonful of filling.  Fold the leaf around the filling to make a little package.

I know these look a little bit like chicken thighs, but they really are the ground beef and rice mixture wrapped around a cabbage leaf.

Then I arrange these in a single layer in a baking pan or electric fry pan, combine the water and the remaining tomato sauce and pour over the cabbage rolls.  Cover and bake for and hour at 350 degrees.  Uncover for the last ten minutes.  This is the original recipe.

I experimented today with the pressure cooker for these.   I used the pressure cooker for the whole thing.  I made the rice which took 5 minutes, then cooked the cabbage (the microwave works better though) for 5 minutes and after I assembled the rolls, I pressured them for 20 minutes.  Total time 30 minutes.
I prefer them baked or cooked in the electric fry pan.  They are firmer and some of the excess moisture evaporates. 

While the cabbage rolls were cooking, I peeled some apples and cut into pieces.  I cooked them with a little water until they were soft, mashed them a little with a potato masher, added some sugar and we had fresh warm chunky applesauce also.  Now I have to clean up the kitchen, it's always the worse part.