Damn that Rachael Ray!

While I was waiting for Nathan to return home with the cheese pizza we ordered for dinner the other day, I caught a couple of minutes of 30 Minute Meals. I'm not a big Rachael Ray fan - I did start out as one, but the endless giggling, use of EVOO and "mushroom overboard" just sent me...well...overboard. I do admit however, that she has some pretty good recipes that I use every now and then. (I've never gotten them to clock in under 30 minutes, but that's another rant all together.)

I'm sure that Rachael Ray is a good upstanding individual. To me, she is a little overly friendly, and loud. Very loud. I can only imagine that her throat must hurt at the end of the day from all the shouting. She's created herself a little empire of sorts, with the knives, cookbooks, television shows, magazine and all. It's too much, too soon - and so in-your-face. But, I applaud her for being a go-getter. And, I'm terribly jealous of the rock she wears on her finger. But, seriously...Too Cool For School Mixed Tape? Who the fuck buys that shit?

The episode I saw was her "Stuffed Cabbage Stoup." In her words, "it's thicker than a soup, but not as thick as a stew." I was intrigued, and decided to give it a try - especially since I grabbed a head of cabbage the other day at the market for no reason at all.

The recipe itself is easy enough. Looking through my pantry, I noticed that I didn't have all of the ingredients needed - so I did some creative winging-it. You can find Ms. Ray's original recipe here. I will post my changes below.

Rachael Ray's STUFFED CABBAGE STOUP

1/2 head of cabbage, cored and chopped into bite sized pieces (I did not have savoy cabbage as she suggests - - so I used just regular plain green cabbage)
1 lb ground beef
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled with a grater and then roughly chopped
1 can of tomato sauce
2 tomatoes, roughly cubes
1 quart of chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp corriander
2 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
fresh or dried parsley
cooked rice

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef. Cook until almost browned. Add onion, garlic and carrot. Continue cooking. Add tomato sauce, corriander, paprika and a bay leaf. Finally add cabbage, then immediately add your chicken broth. Turn heat up to high, and bring to a boil.

Cook for approximately 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft-crisp.

Meanwhile, prepare rice as directed - using the 2 to 1 ratio of water to rice.

Add chopped tomatoes to the stoup and cook for another 10 minutes.

To serve, spoon some rice into a serving bowl, then ladel in soup over it. Garnish with a little parsley. RR suggested making the rice on the side, because it you are making a large pot and want leftovers, the rice will remain rice-like, and not become a bloated, soggy mess - it's an excellent tip!

The one thing I would avoid from the episode...there is absolutely no need to make an accompaniment, such as the grilled cheese she had. The stoup is filling enough without adding even more. Even for Nathan, who eats like he has never, ever seen food in his life. I can only imagine how tasty this will be tomorrow for lunch. Thumbs up Rachael Ray!