Sharing a Little of My Polish Heritage

One of my hobbies is genealogy and I've learned a lot about my ancestors in the last 10 years of research, solved some family questions, met some very distant cousins and learned even more about my heritage. The past several years my research focus has been on my Polish ancestors who immigrated to the US and settled in western Pennsylvania.

Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to figure out what we were going to have for dinner and something popped into my mind that I have not had since I was a child - Halupkis. Both my grandmother and my mom used to make these a lot when I was young and it's a meal that my Polish great grandparents would have made, too. When we were little, our family called them Pigs in a Blanket which is a much different version than the hotdog in a crescent roll.

Making them and eating them last night brought back a lot of memories and took me back to envisioning my ancestors making them, too. So, I thought I would share this delicious Polish recipe with you.

Halupki (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

4-6 servings

1 head cabbage
1 1/4 lbs ground meat
salt and pepper
1 egg
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove chopped garlic
1 cup cooked rice
2 cans tomato soup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 3/4 cups water

In a large pot (I used an 8qt size), boil the head of cabbage 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the leaves from the head after the cabbage has been boiled.

In a medium bowl, mix the meat, salt and pepper, egg, parsley, garlic, onion and rice together.

Place a spoonful of the meat mixture into a blanched cabbage leaf (use more meat mixture if the leaf is large) and roll the cabbage leaves to enclose the meat mixture.

In a 5-quart dutch oven, place some leaves of cabbage on bottom of pan.

Add cabbage rolls on top with the seams face down.

Mix tomato soup, sugar, vinegar, and water together.

Pour over cabbage rolls, cover and cook on medium heat for 1 1/2 hours.

Enjoy!