SIDES FOR CABBAGE ROLLS
Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up and our large family usually celebrates it at our house. This year though, a nephew is being married on that weekend and because there is so much to do, I announced there would be no Thanksgiving meal. I started to feel guilty almost immediately, so, as a compromise I said I would make up a couple of large trays of cabbage rolls (my Mom has a killer recipe using Savoy cabbage) and people could drop in and have some. I will serve Calabrese rolls and butter, but what is appropriate to eat with cabbage rolls (they are a meal in themselves with protein, starch & carbs), but somehow it looks a little cheesy not to have a few sides to serve with them. Any ideas out there? Remember, I have very little time to prepare anything elaborate and Mom and I will also be making homemade pumpkin pies, in order to avoid a mutiny!
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16 Comments:
We always ate them with peeled, boiled potatoes. I know, another starch, but it's what we did. Nowadays, I'm likely to serve another vegetable, like sliced cukes in a dill-yogurt sauce. And that's something that you can easily make ahead of time, since it gets better as it sits.
dbcurrie at 1:30PM on 09/14/09
Maybe some glazed carrots? I steam carrot coins and toss them in butter, honey and a sprinkle of allspice or cinnamon. Salt and pepper to taste.
Banannah at 1:31PM on 09/14/09
how about a green salad with a vinaigrette to cut the richness of the cabbage rolls? Or a roasted root veggie salad with a vinaigrette. That could be prepped ahead of time and would look lovely next to a big ol cabbage roll.
BananaMonkey at 1:46PM on 09/14/09
Oh man I cant wait for my Baba's cabbage-rolls this thanksgiving!!! (I like them with rice or buckwheat)
I assume yours have meat in them; so you don't NEED more protein but WTF dude make a chicken salad or something. Maybe a colslaw? If you have tomatoes left (in season right?) you could add a bit of italy and make a basil/mozza/tomato salad with balsamic.
If you want to stay Ukranian; here's some of my FAVOURITE dishes by Baba:
- Natchinka (sp?) - Like a baked macaroni casserole with eggs, cheese and ham that gets sliced like brownies
- Beatleaf holapshis (again sp?) - bread wrapped in beet leaves with a red onion and dill (heavy dill) cream sauce
- papankis (sp?) and noodles - wild Canadian mushroom gravy over home made egg noodles.
oh jeez. now u got me all craving this stuff. thanks a lot! LOL
:D good luck
hungrychristel at 2:30PM on 09/14/09
I make a nice starchy mashed potato to go with.
JerzeeTomato at 2:41PM on 09/14/09
spinach squares
seikel at 2:55PM on 09/14/09
@ Jerzee tomato....agreed. Spot on. Thats how my entire family makes/eats them and I will be the first to tell you that my maiden name ends in "ovsky".
ChelleyD01 at 3:10PM on 09/14/09
We always served them with mashed potatoes and butter, potato dumplings or pierogi's dusted with toasted, buttered bread crumbs.
Saute'd mushrooms. Or mushroom soup.
Pickled beets, sour cream-cucumber salad, kasha with mushrooms is good too. Deviled or creamed eggs. Cheeses.
Sliced pork roast and sauerkraut or fresh kielbasa and mustard.
Goulash or stew, good beer, butter and good rye or brown bread
Don't forget some delicious sweets too.
CJ McD at 3:15PM on 09/14/09
@JerzeeTomato-I agree-I made cabbage rolls last week and mashed potatoes on the side to soak up all that sauce...
Other sides which aren't time consuming: beet salad or cuke salad which can be made the day before and tastes better the second day anyway...
Good luck
Italiancupcake at 4:13PM on 09/14/09
Who has a great recipe for them? post!
seikel at 4:17PM on 09/14/09
Beer. But that stuff's getting pretty expensive in Canada now isn't it. Ontario's LCBO sells a two-four (case of 24) of Labatt's for like $40..... jeeez, no wonder healthcare is free.....
I'd suggest a lovely kielbasa and maybe some schinken... and of course...beer. Mmmmm. Oh! butter tarts!!!!
Pointy at 5:24PM on 09/14/09
@pointy: I don't know if you're canadian and trying to be funny but I felt I had to call you out (no disrespect intended)
#1 - Healthcare isn't free. We pay for it with our Tax Dollars.
#2 - Our Beer is typically higher in alcohol content.
#3 - In my experience it also tastes better.
hungrychristel at 5:44PM on 09/14/09
Spam.... well not the spam itself obviously.... just the gelatin from the spam over raw asparagus like an aspic!
Seriously, perhaps a nice salad or maybe a root vegetable gratin or a gratin made with squashes and some cheese. it can also be made ahead of time so no fuss no muss!
Pavlov at 10:15AM on 09/15/09
Cucumber salat.
Sauerkraut.
Knirdels
Potato pancakes.
All of the above add caraway seeds lol.
pjracz10 at 10:45AM on 09/15/09
Thanks everyone - I have to admit mashed potatoes came to my mind, but I wondered if it would be too much with the rice in the recipe. However, it only calls for 1/2 a cup. The other ideas of roasted veggies or roast veggie gratin, sounds great. They could be prepared ahead and as @Pavlov says, "no fuss, no muss!" Cucumber salad would be another nice side.
bareneed at 11:11AM on 09/15/09
Fresh Kielbasa or pork roast with mashed potatos! Nothing better -- maybe a homemade pierogi with sauted onions...
Bitesandbits at 3:21PM on 09/15/09