Napa Cabbage “Dumplings in dashi with Sauteed Chard and Enoki Mushrooms

This one just kinda popped into my head today. I knew I wanted to stuff cabbage with some kind of seasoned meat but needed it to be a lighter and more interesting affair than your traditional stuffed cabbage in tomato sauce. I LOVE Napa (or Savoy) cabbage and was hoping they had some at whole foods when I arrived. I was in luck…barely….there were 2 ratty looking heads left. Cabbage secured I made me way to the butcher section for the stuffing. I wanted to use shiitakes for the dashi base so I figured a sturdier red meat would go well. I ALMOST grabbed some nice looking ground veal but the grass-fed beef was lighter on the wallet as well as my conscience. In addition I picked up a few shishito peppers, some rainbow chard and a clump of enoki mushrooms. I’d use the peppers as part of the filling and the chard and enokis I’d sauté quickly for accompaniment.

When using cabbage as a “wonton” skin you need to quickly par-boil the leaves. You can do this early in the process and set them aside to cool. It takes a bit of time as you can really only do 2 at a time in a deep 12 inch skillet so I got the shitakes reconstituting and chard in a cold water bath. Once everything was prepped I got to work on the filling and dashi. I took the mushroom liqueur and started a simmer with the centers from the chard and a few chunks of ginger. As the dashi did it’s thing I sauteed the ground beef with some shallots, chopped up the shiitakes, shishito peppers and the tender white parts of a few green onions. At the end I added a light glug of Shoyu and a bit of salt and pepper. Set aside.

I have big, somewhat clumsy hands so I called in Sara for the dumpling making. It is a tedious process and she has the dexterity and attention to detail required for such delicate work….I typically do not. While she rolled, I finished the dashi and quickly sauteed the chard and enokis with a tiny bit of olive oil and white balsamic. The scallion ties proved the most difficult part of the process but Sara managed to make it work beautifully after a few over-stuffed bundles.

The dumplings were SO good and gave the dashi a nice richness. The chard-enoki combo had just the right amount of bitter acidity and worked really well along side the meaty cabbage bundles. I’ll definitely make these again….they sorta beg for some variation with filling and stock. All in all the meal took about an hour and 15 minutes to complete.

We listened to Roxy Music pretty much the entire time. It somehow just made sense.