I may have mixed-and-matched my traditional foods a little in this recipe, but I love the way it turned out. Sofrito can complement just about any dish and these Paleo Stuffed Cabbage Rolls are no exception.
Those of us who have been living the Paleo lifestyle for a while have probably gotten used to substitutions.
Whether it’s Paleo Bread, Paleo Tortillas, or cauliflower rice, we’ve gotten pretty good at taking a grain-filled recipe and making it Paleo-friendly. So it’s nice to have a recipe that hardly needs any modification to fit our needs.
Stuffed cabbage is a dish that has been around for millennia and has always consisted of basically boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around some sort of filling and then baked or slow-cooked.
Some varieties include some grains in the filling, such as rice or barley, but it’s not necessary, and obviously we didn’t do that here.
Mostly grains are just filler anyway, and we aren’t interested in filler food. Just the real stuff.
What is Sofrito?
Similar to a liquid, not chunky, salsa.
Sofrito is made from aromatic ingredients cut into small pieces and sautéed or braised in cooking oil.
You can make your own Sofrito using this recipe prior to preparing your stuffed cabbage rolls or you can make your own salsa or buy a clean variety from the store if you’re in a pinch.
Putting It All Together
You can cook the cabbage rolls in any kind of sauce you want, but I enjoyed cooking them in Sofrito. It adds a fresh, crisp flavor to the meat and adds a healthy helping of veggies.
Feel free to change up the protein as well although I recommend ground beef, ground pork or ground lamb. I’ve tried this recipe with ground turkey and I believe the low fat content in the meat equates to less flavor overall. In other words the turkey came out kind of bland so I wouldn’t recommend you use ground turkey or ground chicken for this recipe.
Round Out Your Meal
You may think you’re already getting plenty of veggies in this dish with the cabbage and carrots and salsa, but you’d be wrong. Just to be safe, you should probably add a side of salad to this recipe or a side of veggies, if you haven’t already.
