I wasn’t planning on writing another post today but I found a recipe that was so good I just had to share. When I asked what I should make for supper tonight, the answer I got was some song about “gołąbki.” Sounded good to me, and I figured I already had all, or at least most, of the ingredients–tomatoes and onions from the garden, a cabbage from my CSA share, ground beef in the freezer. I just needed a recipe. Epicurious came through once again, and I used this one for Sweet and Sour Stuffed Cabbage Rolls.

I guess I could have found a recipe in one of the German-Russian cookbooks from my grandma. There they’re called “halupsy,” which I just found out (thanks again to Wikipedia) is pretty darn close to the Ukrainian name, “halubtsi,” which makes perfect sense. I didn’t think of it though and anyway I’m a sucker for dried cherries.

I followed the recipe pretty closely. Here are the changes I made:

Sauce: I used leeks instead of onion because I had some. I also added a grated carrot at the beginning. I deglazed with a little rosé wine, then added a big can’s worth of grated fresh tomatoes. I didn’t have enough lemon, so I used the juice from half a lemon and then added what seemed like the right amount of cider vinegar.

Cabbage rolls: I had a regular medium to smallish green cabbage. I also used about half ground beef and half ground pork and added about a teaspoon of mustard to the filling.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of heavy, meaty dishes, but this was delicious, and it wasn’t even that heavy. It’s a weekend meal since it takes 2+ hours, but I’ll definitely make it again.