Ingredients
- 1 (medium to large) head cabbage, cored and frozen up to 1 day in advance
- 1 cup cooked lentils, any kind
- ½ cup quinoa, washed well and cooked
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 2 carrots, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon, plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, divided
- ¼ cup chopped parsley, packed
- ¼ preserved lemon rind, washed and chopped (or zest of 1 lemon)
- 1 (28-ounce) can chopped or whole tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ¼ cup raisins, black or golden
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and remove cabbage from freezer.
Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, seasoning with salt and pepper, and sauté until translucent. Then, add the garlic, celery, carrot and thyme. Cook until vegetables soften slightly, 3–5 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve ½ the mixture in a bowl.
With the remainder of the vegetables over medium heat, add tomato paste, 1 tablespoon water, soy sauce and 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar. Stir until vegetables are coated. Add in the cooked lentils and quinoa and stir well until all incorporated. Remove from heat into a large bowl and fold in chopped parsley and preserved lemon. Taste and re-season with salt and pepper.
Transfer the reserved sautéed vegetables back to the pan over medium heat, and add the chopped tomatoes (crushing if whole), maple syrup and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Simmer for a minute or 2. Turn off heat, mix in raisins and re-season with salt and pepper. Ladle ½ of the sauce into an 8- by 12-inch baking dish.
Peel off the outermost cabbage leaf (see notes below) and lay flat on a cutting board. With scissors, cut ½ inch next to each side of the widest part of the stem about 2 inches up the leaf, then cut across to remove the stem.
Place 2–3 tablespoons of the lentil mixture on the cabbage, just above the cut stem. Fold the bottom sides of the cabbage leaf up and over the filling, then fold in the sides towards the middle and roll up cabbage tightly. Place seam side down in the baking dish over tomato sauce.
Continue with remaining cabbage leaves and filling, placing rolled leaves close together in the dish. When the dish is full, top with the rest of the sauce, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
NOTES:
If cabbage is still frozen, run it under room-temperature water until the leaf peels easily from the top of the cabbage and work your way around the leaf, removing the leaf from the cut end.
Filling and sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead and neither has to be reheated before rolling in cabbage.
The recipe can be frozen before or after cooking. If reheating from frozen, thaw in refrigerator overnight before cooking at 350°F for 30–40 minutes
