American Chop Suey

  

American Chop Suey. This is a recipe I discovered on the New England Today page.  It sounded and looked incredibly delicious.  I printed out in short time and put it on my to do list. 

Yesterday was the day.  I cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us. I have given that down-sized recipe here. If you want the full one, just click the link above. Its fantastic! 

 

 For me to call this fantastic is no small feat.  You can consider that high praise indeed.  Since I was a child I have had a strong aversion to eating ground beef mixed into anything.  

It always made me gag. It was a texture thing. My mom always bought the cheapest meat she could. I don't fault her for that. She was being economical, or trying to be.  It was always filled with gristle and sometimes bits of bone. 

 

I have always been extremely sensitive to anything like that. Even paper touching my teeth makes me gag. I cannot stand it. They have a name for it now. Its called Tactile Defensiveness. There was no name for it back then. 

My parents just thought I was being awkward.  I used to get punished for it. I was probably one of ht few people on the planet who could take a plate of mixed meat and pasta and eat just the pasta, leaving every speck of meat behind. After a while my mother stopped giving me anything with hamburger in it. 

 

 Recently I have been buying extra lean ground steak and using that in my cooking. It does cost more than ground beef, but it is worth every penny. 

I have discovered that I am able to eat it without any problem. In fact I am actually starting to enjoy it.  I am ever so pleased about that.  Making this American Chop Suey was final proof to me that I can do it. It was delicious. 

  

  

So much so that here I am a day later still thinking about it.  High praise indeed.  And I have to say it is a very simple, quick and easy casserole to make as well. And you know how much I like easy. 

 

So what is American Chop Suey?  And why are you seeing it on The English Kitchen.  

 

Its simple really.  first of all I am a North American and my roots go deep into North American soil. Whilst I love all things British there is still a huge part of me that craves North American flavours and tastes. 

American Chop Suey is a term used to describe a popular American comfort dish. Generally speaking it is composed of ground beef, sauce, vegetables and pasta. It goes by many terms actually.  Texas Hash are just a few names. 

In New England States it is called American Chop Suey. A delicious mixture of macaroni, seasoned ground beef, tomato-ey goodness and cheese. 

 

 

 

So where does Chop Suey come in?  Well I will tell you. I have a brain that loves to know the why's and where-fores of things. The history and especially the food-history of recipes. 

The term Chop Suey is thought to be a transcription of the Chinese term "tsa tsui."  It translates from the Mandarin to mean " a little of this and a little of that" from what I understand 

 

There is a saying here in the UK, which goes, "There's naught so queer as folk."  I think that saying would apply here.  There is nothing remotely Chinese about this dish. 

 

What it is is an amazingly flexible, easy and forgiving dish that can be hacked together in a myriad of ways.  This way I am showing you today, is incredibly delicious, and my favourite! 

  

This has comfort food written all over it. It has "family-pleasing" written right into it's DNA.  There is nothing about this not to fall in love with. 

Simple ingredients are put together in a very simple way.  I bet you have just about everything in your kitchen right now to make this! 

  

I use Garofalo Pasta in recent years. Not only do they have a wide variety of types and shapes available, but it is excellent pasta. I used their "macaroni" for this. It worked beautifully. 

For many years here in the UK I could not find elbow macaroni. There are some things that are just better with elbow macaroni if you know what I mean.  Shape is everything when it comes to pasta and the sauces you serve with them. 

  

As I aready told you above, I used lean ground steak.  I get it from my butcher and it is worth every single penny in quality, texture and taste.  

The vegetables used are a fresh green pepper and a medium onion.  Just one of each and both chopped. Not too large, not too fine.  A medium dice. 

  

It uses a jar of spaghetti sauce.  Sauce is everything and I have learned that when it to spaghetti sauce, you get what you pay for. I used a small jar of Lloyd Grossman's Basil and Tomato Spaghetti Sauce. 

 

It has a beautiful texture and is filled with lovely bits of real tomato and plenty of basil.  If you want a well flavoured dish, do opt to buy a good quality sauce. It will make a huge difference. 

 

There is also garlic in the dish. One clove minced. I have been using the jarred minced garlic in recent months. I have had a difficult time finding fresh garlic that doesn't taste funny to me.   

The quality and taste in the jarred is always  spot on for me. I keep saying every year I am going to try growing my own, but then I don't.  This year was no different. I didn't. 

  

Cheese.  The original recipe called for just Mozzarella cheese. This gets sprinkled on top. I mixed Mozzarella with grated Jack cheese and it was excellent I have to say!  EX-CELL-ENT!  

It had just the right amount of flavour and just enough gooeyness.  In short, it was perfect. Don't skip sprinkling more green pepper on top.  It adds a special "je ne sais quoi!" 

 

 

 

I dare say that this freezes very well and also reheats beautifully. Its beautiful as written, but you can certainly put your own stamp on it if you want by adding vegetables to the mix such as celery, which would be lovely.  

I can promise you, you will enjoy this thoroughly! 

American Chop Suey

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Yield: 2 - 3

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 15 Mincook time: 35 Mintotal time: 50 Min

A delicious spin on an American Classic, perfectly sized for two to three people, depending on appetites. To serve more simply double the ingredients. This is comfort food, pure and simple.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (115g) elbow pasta, uncooked
• 1/2 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
• 1 green bell pepper, trimmed, seeded and diced, divided
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 TBS light olive oil
• 1 cup (8 ounces)  (240g) jar of good quality spaghetti sauce
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning blend
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup grated four cheese blend (100g)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a 7 by 9 inch casserole dish and set aside.
2. Cook the macaroni in boiling lightly salted water just until al dente.  Drain and rinse. Drain again. Set aside. (If you want to keep it from sticking together you can add a touch of olive oil to it.)
3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the beef, garlic, onions and peppers. (reserve 2 TBS of the green pepper for later.) Saute unil the beef is browned and no longer pink. Add the spaghetti sauce and seasonings.  Taste and adjust as necessary. Add the cooked macaroni and then pour the whole mixture into the prepared baking dish.
4. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over top and sprinkle with the reserved green pepper. Cover tightly with aluminium foil.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 25  minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and just starting to brown.
6. Serve hot.

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This is delicious served with a side salad and perhaps some crusty bread, depending on appetites. On this particular occasion we enjoyed it with a salad alone.  

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