Cabbage Roll Success

Last week the real Phil n Jack posted a recipe for Lebanese cabbage rolls. I had requested the recipe as I was making them as part of a small Lebanese feast to share with our friends Robert and Laura. Here's how it went.

I took one extra special cabbage...

I then boiled a big pot of water, and plunged the cabbage leaves in until they were soft and pliable. I cut  the leaves into squares (that's why I needed a nice big cabbage you see) and placed some mince mixture (lamb mince, rice, cinammon, allspice, onion) in the square, folded in the ends and made a neat little parcel.

(Boy I didn't think it was so hard to follow a recipe!) Before I did the rolling bit, I took another saucepan (because I had one) and lined it with cabbage leaves..this prevented all sorts of bad things happening (so I was told).  

I then placed the little rolls in the cabbage lined saucepan, packing them tightly. 

But I forgot to mention one extremely important step...I placed lots and lots and lots  (though perhaps on reflection not enough) of unpeeled cloves of garlic in amongst the cabbage rolls.  I did not mean to be timid with this. 

I topped the saucepan up with water and forgot to add some salt.

I took some tomatoes, I used as many tomatoes as I had people coming to dinner, and scoop ed out the fleshy bits which I put on top of the rolls. 

Oh, and I forgot to reserve some of the mince mixture to stuff the tomato shells. The stuffed tomatos (with their little cut off tops back on) were to go on top of the cabbage rolls. Oops.  

I covered with a tight fitting lid and gently simmered for about one hour. I then added some lemon juice and simmer ed for another 30 minutes or so   I ensured a gentle simmer because I didn't want to burn the bottoms layers. 

And Voila!

 I made some Tabbouleh to accompany the Cabbage Rolls using another Phil n Jack recipe. 

We enjoyed the cabbage roles and tabbouleh with a lovely slow cooked lamb shoulder (thanks h-bomb). A small feast  indeed.