Cabbage Rolls and Israeli Folk Songs and Bully

I always thought I didn't want our record to "match" our recipe. Like, we didn't listen to Vietnamese music when we made Vietnamese food, I preferred for our choices to be organic and just whatever we wanted to eat and listen to. BUT when talking about making cabbage rolls, our special guest for Records and Recipes this week (Corinne, my Sister-in-law) was like "what could you listen to for cabbage rolls? Israeli folk music?" and strangely enough, Matt had bought a record of Israeli folk music recently, despite us having no particular attachment to Israel or their musical traditions. It was just too coincidental so we had to listen to it! Or rather, one side of it, it wasn't the most fun, lively cooking music. The record is pictured with Corinne pretending to spill a glass of wine on it because she had spilled her wine earlier that evening. You are now in on the joke!

Then we switched to the Bully album "Feels Like" which was a great album released in 2015 (as mentioned in the Shrimp and Grits post.) We saw them in 2014 before the album was released but we were able to buy a single from them. They must have already taken all their merch back to the van when we inquired about buying something so the lead singer, Alicia Bognonno (pictured right), walked all the way out of the venue, down the street, and got one for us out of their van. I thought was really nice of her because she couldn't have been making much bank off of a single 45. She also produced their album; she went to audio engineering school which is just not something a ton of women go into. I also like her whole vibe, how she's clearly a gorgeous woman but wears baggy t-shirts and always has her hair in her face. I respect whatever women do with their image as performers (put it all out there or cover up or anything in between) but I appreciate her take on it.
Israeli Folk Songs: C
Bully "Feels Like": A

So cabbage rolls! Matt suggested it and it's something I'd never made before. We had some really good ones semi-recently in Hot Springs and so I was optimistic we could make something similarly good with another Serious Eats recipe. Be forewarned, a lot of our recipes are probably going to be from Serious Eats, I just trust them. I cheated a bit and bought a thing of pre-chopped mirepoix at Trader Joe's. Usually Matt is perfectly fine with chopping (and of course it's usually cheaper than pre-chopped stuff) but this was a case where we got going kind of late and it was actually perfectly fine. I always assumed mirepoix meant something in French but Corinne speaks French and was like "nope." Turns out, it was named after a French dude, ol' Lord Mirepoix.

Additionally, I'm glad we didn't have to chop all that onion, carrot and celery because the cabbage roll rolling was labor intensive enough! My SIL was actually helping more this time than Matt (although he did chop the garlic!) and we somehow did something weird with the cabbage when we cored it so instead of rolling two huge rolls as described in the recipe, we had a bunch of little leaves therefore LOTS of rolling. Also, I always have issues with rice so this was no different. I ended up doubling the time in the oven to actually get the rice cooked- I would probably parboil the rice before making this again. But the extra time in the oven didn't seem to negatively affect the cabbage or the meat stuffed within; it all came out with a surprisingly rich flavor and the cabbage was tender but not mushy at all. I ended up buying all the ingredients at Trader Joe's so I didn't have spicy V8 but rather their variation on regular V8 and it was great but not really spicy at all, which was fine.
Not-so-Spicy Cabbage Rolls: A

Smoky Spicy Cabbage Rolls (From Serious Eats)
Ingredients
1 medium head Savoy cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium carrot, shredded (about 1 cup)
1 rib celery, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup chopped jarred or homemade roasted red peppers
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)
4 cups spicy V8
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. 1.
   Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Cut the core out of the cabbage, leaving it whole. Place cabbage in a large bowl. Boil a medium pot of water and pour it over the cabbage and let sit for ten minutes.
2. 2.
   Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the ground beef and brown, breaking into small bits. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic and continue cooking, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add roasted peppers, rice, tomato paste and paprika. Season with salt and stir to combine.
3. 3.
   Drain cabbage, remove large leaves and cut out any tough veins. Pat the leaves dry with a paper towel. Using large leaves to create two cabbage rolls, fill each with about 1/3 cup of the meat mixture. Roll up as you would a burrito, tucking the sides in first.
4. 4.
   Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray, and arrange rolls tightly in the dish. Cover with V8 and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Cover with foil and transfer to the oven to bake until bubbly, 35 to 40 minutes.
5. 5.
   Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes and serve, spooning additional sauce on top of cabbage rolls when serving.