Savoy Cabbage Apricot & Bacon Roulade

Roulade dishes always look beautiful on your table and are sure to impress your guests. This version has a bread, apricot filling spiked with fresh parsley and accented with fried thick cut bacon and onions. Chopped raw pumpkins seeds were added into the filling and as garnish for some extra crunch.

The roulade pieces are pan fried, then baked in a red wine sauce. This dish takes a bit of time to make but the results are worth it.

I used winter savoy cabbage leaves to wrap the filling. However, you can use any cabbage variety you prefer. Red cabbage would also be flavorful and pretty.

If you have some rolls or bread hanging around that are a day or two old, this is a great way to use them up.

Feel free to switch up the ingredients with whatever you might have hanging out in your pantry. Dried apple or pear can be substituted for the apricot. Swap out almonds or walnuts for the pumpkin seeds.

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Savoy Cabbage Apricot & Bacon Roulade

Course Appetizer, Brunch, Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine German

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 2 hours

Servings 6 Roulade

Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 3 large strips of thick cut bacon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 day old small rolls
• 1 cup lukewarm milk
• 1/3 cup dried apricots
• 1 small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds or pepitas
• 2 eggs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small head of savoy cabbage with large leaves
• pinch salt
• pinch of white granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon clarified butter
• 1+ 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup dry red wine
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Instructions

1. Cut the rolls into small pieces and place in a bowl. Pour the lukewarm milk over the top of the bread and let soak.
2. Peel the onion and cut into small pieces. Cut the thick cut bacon into small pieces.
3. Heat the unsalted butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and bacon pieces to the pan. Cooking, stirring occasionally until the onion pieces become transparent and slightly browned and the bacon pieces are crispy.
4. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. In the meantime, place a saucepan of water over high heat on the stovetop. Add a pinch each of salt and white granulated sugar.
6. With a small sharp knife, remove the stem from the hard of savoy cabbage. Blanch the stemless cabbage in the boiling water for 5 minutes.
7. Remove the savoy cabbage from the boiling water and drain. Rinse with cold water and gently squeeze as much water out of the cabbage as you can. Pat dry. When the cabbage is cool enough to handle, remove any outer leaves if they are damaged, then gently Pull off the leaves from the cabbage and flatten them out on your workspace.
8. Dice the dried apricots into small pieces. Remove the parsley leaves from the stems an chop into pieces.
9. Chop the pumpkin seeds into pieces.
10. Stir or knead the soaked bread until it is one mass.
11. Place a layer of paper towel on the counter and transfer the fried onions and bacon to the paper towel. Pat of the excess grease. Add half the fried onion and bacon pieces to the bread.
12. Add almost all of the chopped apricots, reserving a few pieces for garnish. Then add two tablespoons of the chopped raw pumpkin seeds, the chopped fresh parsley ( also leave out about 1 to 2 tablespoons for fresh garnish if desired).
13. Crack the eggs into a separate small bowl and lightly beat together with a small whisk or a fork. Add the eggs to the mixture.
14. Knead or stir the mixture into one smooth mass, making sure all the ingredients are evenly combined.
15. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
16. Place two of the flattened savoy cabbage leaves on top of one another. On the bottom of the leaf where it would meet the stem, add 3 tablespoons of the bread mixture. Fold the sides of the leaves inwards just enough to create straight edges. Then from the filling end, roll the leaves up tightly around the bread mixture.
17. Repeat until you have 6 pieces of roulade or all the filling is gone.
18. Heat the clarified butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the savoy cabbage roulade to the pans and briefly cook until each of the pieces are slightly browned. Make sure you turn the roulade frequently to cook on all sides.

19. Remove from pan and transfer to an oven-proof casserole dish. Reserve the pan.

20. Add the vegetable stock and red wine to the casserole dish. Place in oven and bake for 40 minutes.
21. Remove from oven, transfer the cabbage roulade to a serving plate, cover with aluminum foil and stow in a warm place.
22. Strain the remaining liquid into the reserved pan. Add the second half of the cooked chopped onions, bacon mixture and cook over a medium-high heat.
23. When the sauce is simmering, Stir in the cornstarch and keep stirring until the sauce has thickened a bit. Remove the sauce from the heat.
24. Retrieve the cabbage roulade from its warm place, uncover and pour the sauce over the top.

25. Garnish with fresh parsley, the remaining dried apricots, and chopped raw pumpkin seeds and serve.

Like roulade dishes? Try these:

Butternut Squash Sauerkraut Quinoa Cabbage Rolls

Lemon Basil Beef Roulade

Toasted Almond Chicken Roulade in Orange Cream Sauce