i need to preface this with a statement.

i do not actually enjoy cooking.

i find the entire act of it terribly boring.

the grocery shopping. the unpacking. the prep. the act of cooking. boring.

but, i do love the eating part of it.

in a feeble attempt to reconnect with a culture i should have grown up in, i found a recipe online for classic romanian dishes. the criteria i was looking for when it came to recipes was that it needed to be easy to make, and was hopefully delicious. added bonus if it was salty.

romanian cabbage rolls pop into the picture after some online searching and there’s a special note about rinsing the pickled cabbage leaves off because they are too salty makes. it makes me grimace. i will never rinse these leaves off. you can’t make me.

i source all the ingredients from jungle jim’s and then i get to work.

mixing the pork with fresh dill and onions is extremely satisfying. i had no idea i would enjoy mushing meat together as much as i did, even though my mother made me mix up meatballs when i was younger. but this time is different because i am choosing to partake in the cooking of my own accord.

i forget what other seasonings were in there (i have to pull the recipe up every time i make this) but i remember definitely putting in rice as well. a binding agent? i don’t know how these things work. don’t ask me.

anyway, you unroll the cabbage leaves and roll out a strip of your meat mixture on the leaf. then roll it up nice and tight so no meat falls out. put it in a crockpot with tomato sauce and smoked sausage (or any other type of smoked meat) and let it cook for eight hours.

sometime before it finishes i make some buttery mashed potatoes and put a couple cabbage rolls on top of it when they’re ready. it is oh so wonderful.

it takes a significant amount of time and effort to accomplish making this dish, but it’s well worth it and then feeds us for a few days. i’ll have to find the recipe and then document how i do it sometime, although you could definitely just google “romanian cabbage rolls” and find the recipe just as easily, i suppose!

that’s my favorite thing to cook and that’s all, folks!