Miss Daisy's Beef and Cabbage Casserole

I re-watched "A Chef's Life" recently and wanted to make this casserole I saw on it.  My son and I love casseroles.  He doesn't love cabbage though, but I thought I'd give it a go and see if it took away from the dish for him... This certainly wasn't pretty looking but Vivian Howard said it was her favorite on the church homecoming buffet table when she was a kid.  Said she memorized Miss Daisy's dish so she could head straight for it.  This part of the episode brought tears to my eyes, in a heartfelt way.

• Lightly sauté chopped bell pepper and medium onion in 1 TBSP olive oil or you can use ½ to 1 stick of butter instead. (I added a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and a half pound of sliced mushrooms ) Set aside.

• Brown 1 ½ lbs. of ground beef or chuck (I used 2 lbs).  Drain fat.
• Put approximately 3 cups of chopped cabbage in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan (I used cooking spray on my baking dish).

• Thinly slice 3 medium potatoes (approximately 3 ½ cups) over layer of cabbage. (They used peeled red potatoes on the show,  I used Yukon gold but didn't peel them.  I don't think that's necessary).

• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Add 1 can of cheddar cheese soup and 1 can of cream of mushroom soup along with ⅓ cup of milk to ground beef mixture. Stir well.

• Pour mixture over potatoes (I told you this is not a pretty dish).

• Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.
• Then remove the tin foil and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

An hour and 15 minutes, it still wasn't cooked, potatoes were still semi-hard.  It ended up taking me an hour and forty-five to be able to serve. 

When it was done, it was as good as Chef said.  Comforting and delicious.  My son didn't even notice the cabbage.  The cabbage added a nice sweetness note to the dish.  I told him it was beef & potato casserole.  He ate it all up.  While I'm not a fan of canned soup these days, every once in a while it's worth it in a casserole.  When I make this again, I'd do it 90 minutes covered and 15 minutes with the foil off.  I think we enjoyed this dish so much as I will once in a while make ground beef with mushroom soup over mashed potatoes. That was my favorite comfort food as a kid/teen/young adult.  This was very reminiscent of that.  AND, this casserole would be good without the potatoes though probably not as comforting.  😉