Hungarian Stuffed Peppers and Cabbage Rolls

My Hungarian Grandpap was a good cook!  His repertoire wasn't huge, but what he made, he made well and he always let me help.  Stuffed Peppers and "Pigs in the Blanket" were one of my favorites growing up.  This is my Pap's recipe, simple, but so good!  Serious comfort food. 

• 8 medium sized green peppers
• 1 small head of cabbage 
• 2 lb. ground beef 
• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups rice (plain old long grain is fine)
• 2 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes 
• 1 large white onion, chopped; reserve 1/2 for sauce, 1/2 for meat mixture
• salt, pepper to taste 

Place the head of clean cabbage in a large pot of boiling water for 10 minutes or so.  You just want it soft enough to peel off the leaves without tearing them too much.  Set the head of cabbage in a colander to cool.
 
Cut tops of peppers and take out the seeds and chop the tops for later use. In mixing bowl, place the ground meat, 1/2 of the chopped onion, raw eggs, washed rice (uncooked), salt and pepper. Mix well ...with your hands!


Stuff the peppers but don't over-stuff them, the rice will expand.  Place the peppers in the pressure cooker (or in a large stock pot).   

Peel off a cabbage leaf and lay it out with the core end facing you. Place about 1/8 c of the meat mixture at the core end and begin to roll it up. After rolling it up halfway, tuck the outer parts of the leaf in and continue to roll. Once rolled, used your thumb to push each end down into the meat mixture to secure it. Place each roll in the kettle with the peppers.  You'll have cabbage left over, chop it up and add it to the stock pot, or save it and make fried cabbage and noodles tomorrow!


If you have left over meat mixture, roll into meat balls and place in the kettle.  In fact, I typically make SURE I have extra meat mixture...the meatballs are so yum!

Add the tomatoes, onions and chopped tops of peppers, chopped cabbage and any extra meatballs into the kettle on top of the peppers and cabbage rolls. 

For conventional stove-top cooking, cover and slowly cook for about 2 hours.

For the pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 20-25 minutes.  Remove cooker from stove, place entire cooker in sink and run cold water on it to normalize the temp.  Take the lid off...voila...tastes like you cooked for hours!

Pressure Cooker Broccoli Soup

Broccoli Soup via Pressure Cooker:

Get to know your pressure cooker BEFORE using it!  Read the booklet that came with your appliance or get online and find the manual;  It isn't scary once you get used to it, but you should familiarize yourself with your pressure cooker.  Once you do, you're going to LOVE it!!!

Ingredients
1 head broccoli, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
white pepper to taste
salt to taste

½ cup grated sharpe cheddar cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan
(really...you can put any cheese in this...I've been known to use swiss, gouda...it's always good!)


Roux:
2 T all purpose flour
2 c 2% or fat free milk (if you don't usually use organic..now's the time to try it..what a difference in the taste!)
1-2 T butter, room temp

Preparation

Place the broccoli, onions, garlic, with a pinch of salt and pepper, in the pressure cooker. Add water (sometimes I add vegetable broth or chicken broth instead of water) to the cooker until it just covers the veggies...but don't go past the "fill-line" on your pressure cooker.

Bring it to pressure and let it cook for 5 mins ~ take the entire pressure cooker off the stovetop and place in the sink (DO NOT REMOVE THE LID) ~ run cold water over the pressure cooker until it normalizes then you can safely remove the lid. What you should have are some seriously mushy veggies!

Now make the Roux; in a saucepan, add the flour and dry roast till flour turns golden brown, taking care not to burn; slowly stir in the butter without clumping; then add the warm milk gradually, while stirring constantly; add half the cheeses and keep stirring; let it simmer till it thickens a bit.

Smach the veggies in the pressure cooker by any means you like; I like the fancy potato ricer! Add the veggies to the sauce from step above, add salt/pepper to taste, let simmer; serve topped with grated cheese.