SHORELINE Cabbage Roll in a Bowl

Mitch & Tonya’s SHORELINE Cabbage Roll in a Bowl

Serves: 6–8

Slow Cooker: 6–7 quart

Cook Time: 5–6 hours on LOW

Ingredients

1 medium head green cabbage, coarsely chopped

8 slices bacon, chopped — or, as your original recipe says, the whole package 😄

2 large onions, chopped

1½ lb ground beef

½ lb ground pork

2 tbsp minced garlic

3 tsp Mitch & Tonya’s Cape Breton SHORELINE All Purpose Seasoning & Rub

½ tsp black pepper

1½ cups uncooked long-grain white rice

1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes

2 cups beef or vegetable broth

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1–2 tsp hot sauce, optional

1 tbsp olive oil, if needed

Directions

1. Cook the bacon

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until nicely browned and crisp.

Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Leave about 1–2 tablespoons of bacon grease in the skillet.

2. Cook the meat mixture

Add the chopped onions to the bacon grease and cook for about 3–4 minutes.

Add:

ground beef

ground pork

garlic

2 tsp SHORELINE

black pepper

Cook until the meat is browned and the onions are tender.

Drain off excess grease.

3. Build the slow cooker

Lightly spray the slow cooker.

Put approximately half of the cabbage in the bottom.

Sprinkle the uncooked rice evenly over the cabbage.

Add the browned meat and onion mixture.

Scatter the crispy bacon over the meat.

Add the remaining cabbage.

4. Make the tomato mixture

In a bowl, combine:

crushed tomatoes

broth

Worcestershire sauce

remaining 1 tsp SHORELINE

hot sauce, if using

Pour this mixture evenly over everything in the slow cooker.

Don't stir yet.

That's important. Let the liquid work its way down through the cabbage, rice and meat while everything cooks.

5. Slow cook

Cover and cook on LOW for 5–6 hours.

At around the 5-hour mark, check the rice.

Once the rice is tender, give everything a really good stir.

If it seems a little dry, add ¼–½ cup additional broth, cover and cook another 20–30 minutes.

Before serving

Let it sit uncovered for about 10 minutes after stirring.

This gives the rice a chance to absorb some of the remaining liquid and lets the flavours settle.

Taste and, if needed, add another little sprinkle of SHORELINE at the table.

🍲 How I picture the finished dish

You want it to look like cabbage rolls that gave up on all the rolling nonsense.

Tender cabbage, seasoned beef and pork, little bits of crispy bacon, tomato, onions and perfectly cooked rice — moist and flavourful, but definitely not swimming in tomato sauce.

And I think the bacon is particularly important here. It gives the dish that smoky, savoury background that makes you wonder why you ever bothered making individual cabbage rolls in the first place.

Optional variation: If you wanted to make this a little more "Cape Breton," I'd try ½ tsp of SHORELINE extra at the very end, rather than adding more hot sauce. That keeps the flavour profile firmly yours.