Summer Abundance, Continued

A former dear neighbor showed up this morning as we were about to leave for town. She was a bit early to leave the sack on the front doorstep and run undetected. The bag contained four healthy zucchini, a bag of cucumbers destined to become pickles, and a giant head of cabbage. I returned home having skipped the entire vegetable section at the grocery store, in anticipation of the bag sitting on my counter. The cabbage beckoned first, so I decided to do something Mom loves, stuffed cabbage, playing a little fast and loose with some of the traditional ingredients to include other elements waiting in abundance on the counter. Taking a half pound of turkey Italian sausage out of the freezer (see a previous posting) I began assembling the following in a nonstick skillet with the meat: 3 chopped small red, yellow and orange peppers from Trader Joe's, 2 chopped scallions, 3 big chopped mushrooms, 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. dried onion, 1-1/2 cups cooked basmati brown rice, 1 chopped medium yellow summer squash, 1/3 cup white wine, 1 T. balsamic vinegar and some chopped fresh basil, lemon thyme and oregano (the usual suspects). Toward the end, I opened a jar or prepared pasta sauce with Italian sausage and added 3 T. to the rice/meat/vegetable mixture, reserving the rest to cover the cabbage rolls. I put 2 inches of salted water into a large enameled dutch oven, discarding the silicon steamer insert when it proved too unwieldy for the entire head of cabbage, which had the core removed but still protruded above the lid. As it cooked away, I finished sauteeing the vegetables, turkey sausage and rice, turning off the burner. The filling rested as the other elements completed cooking. Starting at the base of the semi-cooled cabbage, I peeled away entire half-cooked leaves, cutting out the fibrous rib before filling each leaf with the rice/sausage/vegetable mixture and adding grated cheddar and parmesan cheese before rolling them up in a large casserole dish. The rolls were covered with the remaining tomato sauce and some grated cheese. I ended up with another covered glass casserole dish with two remaining cabbage rolls and sauce before putting both into the oven at 325 degrees. About 50 minutes in, I took off the lids and let them cook an additional 10-15 minutes before taking them out to rest about 10 minutes. Mom thought the cabbage was still a little tough, but she has no lower denture plate. I think another day in the fridge ought to give them a little more tenderness before reheating. They were a bit 'healthy' but quite tasty, especially the ones I had embellished with a sprinkle of red chili flakes just for me.