Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Roasted Tomato Gravy, Quinoa-Barley-Corn Pilaf, Roasted Carrots with Fennel. Creamy White Bean Soup with Arugula was the starter, and Fruit Kanten was the dessert.
It’s all about the cabbage rolls. Yes, they do take a bit of labor, as Winnie and Ellie, two volunteers who came to help with our weekly vegetarian dinner in Palo Alto, can attest. Together, they rolled up more than 120 of the little beasties. The filling was a mixture of tempeh (oven-braised with soy sauce, water, mirin, ginger and garlic), long grain rice, ground, toasted sunflower seeds, and sautéed, minced onions, carrots, cabbage and parsley. We served them with a gravy made of diced and roasted tomatoes, which we added to a vegetable broth seasoned with ginger, garlic, soy sauce and nutritional yeast. So many people are gluten intolerant these days that I’ve taken to thickening my gravies with rice flour, a good alternative. With the cabbage rolls we served a pilaf of red and white quinoa, barley and corn (blanched and cut from the cob). Blanched and roasted carrots and fennel (glazed with mirin, soy sauce and olive oil) were the vegetable side dish, along with mixed spring greens tossed in an apple-red grape vinaigrette dressing. Recipe for the first course, a creamy white bean soup is here, and the kanten dessert recipe is here.
the MacroChef 