Last week I asked my family if they had any dinner requests and my oldest immediately said ‘Pigs in a Blanket’. I wasn’t sure what she meant because people have different ideas of what pigs in a blanket actually is. My son then yells “yes, those hot dog things!!’ At which point she says no, what she was referring to was cabbage rolls and my husband immediately agrees with her request.
Where we are originally from in Pennsylvania many people make stuffed cabbage rolls referred to as Pigs in a Blanket. A quick Google search tells me that the origin is Jewish or Polish , which there were large populations of both where we lived. But I’m Italian and I can tell you I don’t recall my mom ever making them…stuffed peppers yes but cabbage was saved for St. Paddy’s day.☘️
I’ve made Stuffed Cabbage in the past but this time I thought I would search for an Instant Pot recipe. I found a pretty clear and detailed recipe online that seemed doable. First I must admit it was a tad tedious and took quite a bit of hands on time. I tried to do a few things at once to get it done quicker but it definitely is a recipe you need free time for, and not one to put on your easy weeknight meal rotation. Normally I’m trying to cook while helping with homework and projects, but this one needed my full attention until it was all assembled and closed up in the Instant Pot. But all in all it was delicious!! We had leftovers since it made about 13/14 rolls for me and they were all eaten in 2 days!
I made one change and used 2lb of the super lean ground beef omitting the ground pork. I also put way more than 2 tablespoons of filling in each because I like them super full. The recipe says it made 15 rolls, I’m pretty sure I had 13 or 14 because I was out of large leaves by that point but I still had a lot of filling leftover. Since it was already mixed I decided to cook it up in a pan and added a few spoons of diced tomatoes. My girls (and I🤫) ate it while we waited for the rolls to cook in the IP. I didn’t need or use toothpicks to hold them together because they hold on their own with the seam down. When I put them in the IP they filled it up to just about the Max Fill line which made me a bit nervous since I’ve never used it that full before and I’m still terrified it’s going to blow!! Lol! In the end they cooked perfectly in the suggested time and came out totally in tact.
My husband always says there are just some foods that no matter how good they taste, they just don’t make for pretty pictures. You know like when you see friends posting their meals on FB and you’re like ‘WTH is that and why are you sharing?’ 😂🤣This is definitely one of them. But I promise if you have the time to make them you will not be disappointed!
~Elena 💖
Elena And Erin.....It Is What It Is 