Chou farci is a French dish that translates to “stuffed cabbage”. I love doing renditions on stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls because it is fun to bite into something that looks like a vegetable, only for there to be this unctuous, savory filling instead! In the case of my recipe, I wanted to pair the pork and collards together, since collard greens are gorgeous to look at, and because of how large the leaves are, they actually work well for wrapping things in. The filling in this case is a mixture of ground pork, bacon, and panade(soaked breadcrumb mixture that is used to make soft Italian meatballs), which honestly tastes like meatloaf but in the best possible way. I wanted to serve the chou farci with something else, so I wound up pairing it with a cheesy polenta and a sour apple butter as a play on pork, apples, and cheese, which is one of my favorite combinations. In retrospect, there might be some things about this recipe that I would change, but overall, it was a fairly tasty dish, despite how it presents.

I will be honest, when I photographed this dish, I was not 100% sure if the chou farci was cooked all the way. That bright red-ish color on pork is….alarming to say the least. I even tried to cook the other chou farci for another 10 minutes in the oven(and those registered an internal temperature of 170 degrees F, so massively overcooked), but even the further cooked ones had that same color when I cut into them. But then I remembered that I used a decent amount of smoked paprika, which does tint things reddish-orange. So please don’t be alarmed by the color of the chou farci, just know that it actually will come out with a red-orange hue and it is not actually raw. If the color is off putting(and I won’t blame anyone for thinking that), feel free to dial back the paprika to just 1/2 tsp instead. It’s really there to add a meat-friendly smokiness, but since the filling also uses bacon anyways, the paprika is not 100% needed!

The other thing I might change if I do this dish again is the polenta. While it was tasty and was certainly cheesy, color-wise, it with the similarly beige-yellow apple butter made for a dish that was a lot of yellow and brown on top of one another. The apple butter honestly added more contrast to the pork filling, so I would lean towards either doing a more heavily herbed polenta(to give it a grassy green color), or subbing it out with some sort of colorful root vegetable puree instead, just so that you can actually tell where the starch ends and the apple butter begins. That being said, this dish has a lot of visual flaws, but I can guarantee that you would inhale this in a second(unless you don’t eat pork or cheese, in which case, avert your eyes?).

For the chou farci:
4 collard green leaves, stems removed and reserved
6oz ground pork
2oz bacon, diced
2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried oregano
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup whole milk
1 egg

Blanch the collard green leaves in boiling water for 50 seconds, then shock them in ice water so that they stay vibrant green in color. With the reserved stems, mince them, then blanch them in boiling water for 20 seconds, then shock them in ice water as well.

In a bowl, mix together the other ingredients until a smooth ground meat mixture is formed. Divide the mixture into 4 portions and wrap each one inside of the collard green leaves.

For the roasted apple butter:
1 apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup chicken stock
a pinch of salt

In an ovenproof pan, line the bottom of the pan with the unsalted butter, then lay on top of that the apple slices and garlic. Place on top of those the four chou farci. Roast the chou farci and apples together at 400 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Once the internal temperature of the chou farci reaches 150 degrees, remove the chou farci and allow them to rest.

Then stir into the bottom of the pan with the apples and garlic the apple cider vinegar, stock, and salt, removing as much of the bottom solids as possible. Transfer the contents of the pan into a blender and puree until smooth. Then return to the pan and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened to the consistency of apple sauce.

For the cheesy polenta:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup grated cheddar
a pinch of salt

In a pot, start by whisking together the cornmeal and chicken stock on medium-high heat until everything comes up to a boil, roughly 5 minutes. Then whisk into that the remaining ingredients, still on medium high heat, until the cheese fully melts into the polenta, about another 5 minutes. Continue to stir the polenta on medium heat for another 5 minutes just to ensure that it is cooked all the way; it should be silky and creamy in texture, with every little noticeable graininess to it. Right before serving, fold in the blanched collard stems.

To plate:
Start by adding the polenta to the bottom of a bowl. Slice the chou farci in half and place that on the polenta, with one of the halves with the cut side facing upwards. To the side, place a small quenelle of the apple butter to finish.