American Chop Suey
Recipe courtesy of BostonSidewalks.com
Ingredients
  • 2-3 T olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped (approx 1 c)
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped (approx1 c)
    • Note - Green bell pepper is traditional but green bell can be strong in flavor. If you're not a fan of green bell pepper try red bell pepper, it is a much milder, sweeter flavor and goes really well with this dish. Or use a combination. Also try out poblano peppers if you like a little more robust flavor.
  • 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
    • Note - Feel free to mix ground beef and Italian sausage here. Adds some depth and flavor to the dish. I like it with 1 1/2 lbs of beef but you be the judge.
  • 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1/2 t dried oregano
  • 1 t dried basil
  • 2 t salt
  • 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional, see instructions)
  • 1 lb elbow macaroni, cooked al dente
Instructions
1.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. The pan I am using is a 12" stainless steel saute pan. You could also use a dutch oven. Just make sure it is large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta once it is cooked.
2.  Add onion and green pepper and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.
3.   Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to cook for about 2 more minutes.
4.  Add ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. The ground beef I am using is actually a round steak that I ground at home. There is no comparison between beef ground fresh at home and that bought at a grocery store. And you'd be surprised, most times it's cheaper. Also, use a lower fat ground beef. We don't want a lot of extra fat in this.
5.  Add in tomatoes and the tomato sauce and stir in with the beef/vegetable mixture.
6.  Add in the basil, oregano and salt and stir to mix.
7.  Stir thoroughly and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes over low heat or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from heat. At this point, taste the sauce and if it is a little bitter or acidic, add a half teaspoon of sugar. Be careful with the sugar, it doesn't take much to make it way too sweet.
8.  Cook the elbow macaroni until just al dente or even slightly before that stage. I always use DeCecco pasta because it holds up really well to cooking and cooking it al dente is pretty easy. On the package it said cook for 5 minutes and I checked it along the way and 5 minutes was about right. Try not to overcook the pasta here. It will cook a little more when you mix it with the sauce.
9.  Run cold water into the pasta cooking pan with the macaroni until the macaroni is cooled. If you are going to mix it with the sauce and eat it right away, you can skip this step.
10.  Drain the macaroni well and mix with the sauce.
11.  Your American Chop Suey is now complete and you can serve it and eat it just like this! Good job!!
12.  If you are not going to eat it right away, put it into a casserole dish (and set it aside. You can add some cheese (grated parmesan or mozzarella or whatever cheese you like) on top or not, your preference. If you are going to bake it, you want to make sure you cooled your pasta down earlier by running it under cold water. If you don't the macaroni will continue to cook and will absorb too much liquid. The casserole dish I use is a pyrex 30x25x4 cm (15x10x1.5 inch) dish.
13.  Bake covered with foil in a 350-375° F oven for 30 minutes. Uncover it and bake it for another 15-30 minutes until it is heated all the way through. You don't need to "cook" it here. Everything is already cooked, we are just reheating it.
Summary
And that's it. You are now an expert at American Chop Suey. And I can hear you now; but can I add this to it or do I have to use this much of this ingredient? No worries, just share with us how you "Make It Mine." We would love to hear from you.