Having a German heritage, cabbage rolls are no stranger to me. I have to admit, I quite enjoy them. If I’m remembering correctly, my mother made them with a ground beef/rice filling and a typically German, sweet/sour tomato sauce. Myself, I’ve made them with beef, pork, turkey or the sour cabbage and seasoned rice version.
This year, we were gifted with some tender, fresh Swiss chard from a neighbor’s garden. I made some of it into these Swiss chard rolls with a turkey and wild rice filling. Of course, we had this meal much earlier on in the season even though I’m just now getting around to blogging about it. Swiss chard is a biennial plant you can still buy in the grocery stores even if gardening is finished for this year in our part of the country. It was really a great tasting new spin on an old classic.
Swiss chard, also known as silverbeet, is actually a beet that was developed specifically for its edible stems and leaves. It originated in Sicily before being grown in America. ‘Swiss’ was added to the crop’s name to distinguish it from French spinach. Chard has a mild, sweet, earthy taste with some bitterness. When cooked, it takes on a more refined taste and will lose that bitterness. A very unique plant in that both the leaf and the colorful stalks can be eaten either cooked or raw.
This meal is nice served with a medley of sauteed red pepper, mushrooms, zucchini and snow peas with some sweet potato crisps.
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- 2 eggs
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp EACH salt & pepper
- 2 Tbsp Italian herbs stir in paste (found in the vegetable dept)
- 250 gram pkg Uncle Ben's Bistro Long Grain & Wild Rice Blend
- 454 grams ground turkey, cooked
- 2 bunches Swiss chard, trimmed
- 400 ml Tomato Basil Sauce, purchased
Ingredients
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- Butter a 13 X 9-inch baking pan; set aside. In a bowl, whisk eggs & add garlic, salt & pepper, Italian herbs, rice pilaf, & cooked turkey. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Trim leaves to relatively the same size, Trim any stalks to allow for even blanching & easier rolling. Immerse 4-6 leaves at a time into boiling water & blanch for 1 minute. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet as done & allow leaves to drain & cool slightly. Arrange leaves on a work surface, smooth side down. Divide filling between them. Roll up, starting with the large end of the leaf & folding it over the filling to roll up like a 'burrito'.
- Place rolls, seam side down in prepared baking dish. Pour tomato basil sauce over rolls; cover with foil & bake until filling is cooked & bubbly, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven & serve.