Recipe #6 - Cabbage Parcels

This is one of the first recipies I ever cooked in the pressure cooker - apart from the usual veggie soups and so on - and it's still one of the best. As we have all gone seasonal now in terms of produce, which is the way it should be, this fits in to October/November perfectly.......


Ingredients for 4 people....


8 large cabbage leaves
25g butter
1 onion
350g smoked haddock (skinned and chopped)
75g long grain rice - cooked
1 tbs chopped parsley
75g cheddar cheese - grated
salt and pepper
150ml water
300g tomato sauce - home made or soup

Method:

1. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 2 minutes and then drain
2. Melt the butter in the pressure cooker and fry the onion for 2-3 minutes
3. Stir in the haddock, rice, parsley, cheese - season and mix well.
4. Divide the mixture between the cabbage leaves and fold into a parcel ( I find a cocktail stick works well if the leaf doesn't hold together - just make sure you take it out before serving!)
5. Place the parcels join side down into the cooker and pour over the tomato sauce with some water - you need a thick sauce but, as is ofter the case, the sauce creates the steam and so the cooker needs to be a third full.
6. Seal the cooker and heat to high pressure - cook for 6 minutes, then reduce the pressure quickly (place the cooker in a bowl of cold water until the valve releases is the best way).



I like to serve it with mashed or crushed potatoes which you can also cook in the pressure cooker in the trivet at the same time. It is a wonderful autumnal dish - relatively cheap and really nourishing.

On the tomato sauce side of things, you can make your own or, if you want to cheat or time is of the essence, a can of condensed tomato soup mixed with around 150ml of water works really well - though I can only imagine the purists out there throwing their hands up in horror!! Still, it will save time and still tastes fantastic. The whole dish here probably takes around 20-30 minutes maximum so easy to make if you come in from a cold night similar to the ones we're having now.