Recipe of the Week: Chou Farcie

Chou Farcie is a French preparation that uses a whole head of cabbage stuffed with a highly seasoned mixture of ground pork. Simple yet elegant, it is a surprisingly and cost efficient Sunday roast!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 whole Savoy cabbage
4 strips bacon
1 tbsp butter
2 shallots, minced
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch grated nutmeg
1 pinch ground clove
1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
4 slices of sourdough bread, crusts removed and diced
½ cup milk
1 lbs ground pork
To taste salt and pepper
Strong mustard, such as dijon, for serving

Method:

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over a high heat.

2) Remove the outer thick layers of the Savoy cabbage and discard. Peel away the remaining leaves (you should end up with about 16-18 leaves of descending size). Blanch the leaves in the boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain and refresh in ice water. Lay each leaf on a cutting board and slice away the large cores of the big leaves. Use a clean kitchen towel to dry the leaves and set aside.

3) In a sauce pan over medium heat, cook the bacon in the butter until soft. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the shallots, carrot, garlic, nutmeg, clove, and thyme. Season well and stir, cooking until the shallots are translucent and the carrots are soft - about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

4) In a large work bowl, soak the bread in the milk for a few minutes to moisten. Add the ground pork, then the cooked bacon and vegetable mixture. Mix thoroughly and season to taste.

5) On a work surface, lay two sheets of plastic wrap on top of each other, about 18 inches in length. Lay another two sheets with the same length vertically, forming a “plus sign” of plastic on your work surface. Lay down three of the largest cabbage leaves, outer sides down, on the plastic, so the rounded edges are on the outsides. Add a quarter of the meat mixture in the center of the leaves and spread so the filling is about ¼” thick, leaving about 2 inches of cabbage from the edges. Repeat with the next two largest leaves, adding another quarter of filling, and continue this process until all the meat mixture and leaves are piled in the center of the initial four large leaves.

6) Holding the edges of the plastic sheet, wrap the cabbage up into a ball shape: first crossing the left and right sheets, then the north and south sheets, until the cabbage folds over onto itself. Hold together all four sides of the plastic and spin to tighten and form a ball and seal the cabbage in the plastic. Use a length of kitchen twine to tie a knot around the spun piece of plastic, fixing the ball in its shape.

7) Bring a large pot of water to a simmer over medium heat. Gently lower the cabbage in the water and poach for one hour. After an hour, remove the cabbage and let rest for 15 minutes before removing the plastic and discarding.

8) Present the Chou Farci whole at the table, then cut into wedges and serve with a dollop of strong mustard.