Cabbage leaves stuffed with buckwheat

This is a less known variation of the Polish “golabki” or French “choux farci” made with roasted buckwheat instead of minced pork. They’re traditionally served with tomato sauce but I’m using wild mushroom sauce instead. Buckwheat is incredibly healthy and can be often found on various ‘superfoods’ lists. It contains no gluten and is therefore safe for people with gluten allergy or coeliac disease. Serves 4 as a main dish (2 parcels) or 8 as a starter.

Roast buckwheat can be found in Polish deli shops or in the Polish section of larger supermarkets. Look for “Kasza gryczana” – a 400g box contains 4 x 100g  ‘boil in the bag’ portions.

Cook 1 sachet in salted water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Add fried onions, 4 chopped and sauteed portobello mushrooms, salt, pepper and a good shake of Schwartz Spicy Italian seasoning. I cannot live without it and use it in pretty much everything I cook.

Soak a hadful of wild mushrooms in boiling water. Cover and set aside.

Discard the outer leaves of a savoy cabbage. Separate the remaining leaves without tearing them. You can use any torn leaves to line the bottom of the pan you’ll use to cook the cabbage parcels.

Blanch the leaves a few at a time in salted boiling water for a minute, drain and set aside to cool down.

When the leaves are cool enough to handle, take one large leaf or two small leaves and put 2 tablespoons of buckwheat in the middle. Gather the edges and make a tight parcel. Place the parcels seam side down in a heavy bottomed pan. Add 200ml chicken stock, sprinkle with Schwartz Spicy Italian seasoning and add a few shakes of Maggi. Maggi is a liquid vegetable seasoning, not unlike Marmite. Cook for 30 minutes on low heat.

In the meantime, make the sauce. Cook the softened wild mushrooms in the soaking water for around 30 minutes. In another pan, cover 2 quartered shallots and 2 sprigs of thyme with 100ml dry sherry. Reduce by half on low heat. Add the wild mushroom stock, salt and pepper to taste and cook for 5 minutes. Add 130ml single cream and stir in 2 heaped teaspoons of M&S Shallot, Thyme and Parsley Sauce Base from their ‘Terribly Clever’ range (it’s so good I can eat it with a spoon straight from the jar!). When the cream is hot, check the seasoning and take off the heat. Serve with the cabbage parcels.