beef in blankets ... because cabbage rolls sounds unappealing

Stuffed cabbage rolls courtesy of - you guesed it - smitten kitchen.

Pretty delicious.

Not excessively time consuming.

Unfortunately not looking amazingly appetizing. Must find a way to make them look pretty.

But tasting delicious - most important feature.

Where do cabbage rolls come from? Cabbage makes me think Germany, Russia... so maybe Eastern European? No idea

Serves 4-6 generously

1 cabbage (she said savoy, but I used a normal old green cabbage - savoy would have been prettier)

2 small brown onions, finely chopped

2 parsnip, grated

2 carrots, grated

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

500g beef mince

3/4 cup white rice

3 tbsp tomato paste

Plenty of salt and pepper

Good home-made simple tomato sauce for poaching (tomato, garlic, butter, olive oil)

Green salad to serve

Cut the core out of the cabbage. Bring a large pot of water to the boil with a good pinch of salt. Put in the cabbage, turn off the heat and leave for 10 minutes. Drain the cabbage well.

Soften the onion in olive oil over a low heat. Add the parsnip, carrot, celery. Cook until soft and smelling delicious.

In a large bowl, mix together the onion mixture, mince, rice and tomato paste and season well with salt and pepper.

To make the rolls. Cut the core out of the leaves and roll up about 1tbsp of meat mixture. Try to roll it in the same way you would roll a spring roll.

Layer the rolls in a wide-based pan with a lid. They can be in two layers. Pack them in tightly. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and your tomato sauce to cover.

Put on the stove, bring to a simmer, put the lid on, and cook gently for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it and top it up with water if it looks a bit dry. Be careful with it - burnt cabbage is horrendous.

Enjoy