1
For meat mixture, in a large bowl whisk together Worcestershire sauce, egg, salt, black pepper, sweet paprika, garlic powder or finely chopped garlic cloves, thyme, parsley, tomato paste, the very finely chopped celery and onion. Crumble the ground turkey meat into the bowl. Add uncooked rice and 1/2 cup crushed tomato sauce. With a large spoon or your hands, gently combine all the ingredients. Bring the egg mixture from the bottom to the top and around until everything is mixed together. Refrigerate until you're ready to form the cabbage rolls.
3
To prep the cabbage leaves for the meat mixture, carefully cut around the core of the cabbage and remove it, but leave the cabbage whole. In a tall pot, add enough water so that when you put the cabbage in, the water will cover it. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Carefully, immerse the cabbage and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, peeling off each leaf layer with tongs as soon as they become slightly flexible, just until you have enough leaves to use up all the meat mixture. Set the leaves aside to cool. Pat each leaf dry before rolling it up with the meat mixture.
4
In a wide baking dish or roasting pan, that you’re going to bake the cabbage rolls in, pour in 1 cup of sauce.
5
Assemble cabbage rolls, with the stem end facing towards you, put 1/3 cup meat mixture on 1 cabbage leaf. Fold the sides of the cabbage leaf inward over the meat mixture and then roll the cabbage upwards (away from you). Place cabbage rolls in baking dish, seam side down, on top of the sauce. Repeat with remaining leaves and meat mixture. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls.
(UNLESS, see cook’s note below).
6
Preheat oven to
350
Cover baking dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, spooning sauce over cabbage rolls occasionally during cooking, until meat is cooked and the rice is tender. Serve hot.
COOK'S NOTE, if you’ve covered the bottom of the baking dish with cabbage rolls and still have more to put in, alternately, add more sauce and then more cabbage rolls, until you’ve placed all the cabbage rolls in the baking dish. If there’s any sauce leftover, pour the rest of that sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover baking dish tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, spooning sauce over cabbage rolls occasionally during cooking, until meat is cooked and the rice is tender. This also freezes very well.
