Cabbage & Beef Casserole

15 steps

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Chop the cabbage into 1 inch pieces.
• Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a very large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add cabbage and cook until softened and somewhat wilted – about 5-7 minutes. Remove cabbage from skillet and set aside.
Note: a 14 in skillet will be filled with this amount of cabbage. You can cook cabbage in 2 batches if you prefer.
• Add ground beef to skillet and saute for 5-7 minutes so that it is browned. Break up chunks as you cook.
• Turn heat down to medium-low, add olive oil to skillet, and then add chopped onion.
• Cook for about 4-5 minutes.
• Add minced garlic, dried thyme leaves, Hungarian sweet paprika, salt, and pepper then cook for 1 minute.
• Add canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to the skillet and turn heat up to medium.
• Simmer for about 30 minutes.
• Stir in cooked brown rice (leftover rice is just fine).
• Coat a large 9 in x 13 oven-safe dish with canola oil (or use spray oil). A Pyrex glass dish works well.
• Place half of the cooked cabbage as the first layer, then add half of the beef mixture as the second layer, then repeat so that there are 4 layers: cabbage, beef, cabbage, and beef.
• Cover dish with an oven-safe cover or aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove cover and add shredded mozzarella cheese, then finish baking for another 15 minutes so that the cheese is slightly browned.
• Cool for 5-10 minutes. To get 10 servings, cut once lengthwise in half, then make 4 equally spaced horizontal cuts.