CHEFS' RECIPES
Pork and cabbage rolls (Cerdo al col)

Pork and cabbage rolls (Cerdo al col)

Serves 10

Cooking Time Prep time 1 hour, cook 4 hours



1   small (about 450gm) smoked ham hock
100 gm   black manzanilla olives, pitted
100 gm (½ cup)   pearl barley
2 tbsp   olive oil
3   onions, finely chopped
500 gm   minced pork belly
For deep-frying:   vegetable oil
5   large Savoy cabbage leaves
80 ml (1/3 cup)   extra-virgin olive oil
150 ml   sangiovese verjuice
100 gm   seedless red grapes, crushed


1 Cover ham hock with water in a large heavy-based saucepan, then season with sea salt and bring to the boil. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes or until tender. Cool in cooking liquid, then remove ham hock, discard skin and bone and dice meat. Set aside ham hock and reserve 100ml ham stock.
2 Preheat oven to 100C. Place olives on a baking paper-lined oven tray and bake for 2 hours or until shrivelled and soft, then coarsely chop and set aside.
3 Cover pearl barley with cold water in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, then cook over high heat for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
4 Heat olive oil in a large frying pan and cook onion over medium heat for 6 minutes or until soft and golden. Set aside to cool, then combine with minced pork, reserved ham hock and pearl barley in a bowl, mix well and season to taste.
5 Meanwhile, preheat a deep-fryer or large saucepan filled with vegetable oil to 170C. Blanch the cabbage leaves in a large pan of salted boiling water for 1 minute or until tender, then drain and transfer to a large tray. Trim the ‘rib’ from the leaves, cut each leaf in half and set aside. Deep-fry cabbage ribs for 3-5 minutes or until deep golden. Set aside in a warm place.
6 Preheat oven to 180C. To assemble, working with half a cabbage leaf at a time, lay leaf flat on a work surface. Place 100gm of pork mixture on top, then roll, folding in ends to enclose and place in a small deep-sided baking tray. Repeat with remaining leaves and pork mixture and arrange so that all cabbage rolls fit snug together. Pour reserved ham stock, olive oil and sangiovese verjuice over, then cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through.
7 To serve, transfer cabbage rolls onto a plate and set aside in a warm place. Transfer cooking liquid to a saucepan and cook over high heat for 3-5 minutes or until reduced to sauce consistency, add chopped olives, crushed grapes and stir to combine. Season to taste and pour over cabbage rolls, scatter with cabbage ‘ribs’ and serve immediately.


RECIPE Elvis Abrahanowicz & Ben Milgate, Bodega PHOTOGRAPHY Petrina Tinslay STYLING Emma Knowles

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