American Chop Suey

American Chop Suey

My mother used to make this for us a lot. We all loved it, and when friends stayed for dinner, they would be very happy if this was what my mother was serving. So since March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day and my full-blooded, French Canadian mother’s birthday – but she does have green eyes – I am dedicating this recipe to her.

She used to make it on the stove top, but I use my crock pot so I can leave it and run around town and not worry about it. I have found that all crock pots are different. I have two crock pots made by the same manufacturer. One is 25 years old and one is 3 years old. I find the new one gets hot much faster. I never use it on high. If I want to let something sit all day, I still go back to my old one. So you have to get to know yours. You want the contents to bubble not burn.

Ingredients

1 pound lean Hamburg

1 medium onion – chopped or 1-10oz bag of frozen, chopped onions

2 large, green bell peppers - chopped

2 – 14 ½ oz. cans of stewed tomatoes. Use the cans of stewed tomatoes seasoned with onions, celery and bell peppers.

½ - 1 tablespoon of ground pepper

2 bay leaves

Salt to taste

16 oz. of pasta. I use medium shells, but my mother always used elbows.

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

5.5 cans of tomato juice for reheating

Sauté the hamburg and the onions until cooked through. Drain the fat and then add to the crock pot. Then add the peppers, pepper, stewed tomatoes, bay leaves and sprinkle with some salt. Depending on how much time until dinner, put the crock pot on high for about 3 hours or low for about 6 hours. These are just rules of thumb; it will depend on your crock pot. You want the peppers to get very cooked, no crunch left in them but not falling apart. The slower you can do this, the better. If you can stir it occasionally, that would be great.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box and then add to the crock pot about 15 minutes before you want to eat. Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, I like the way the paste coats the pasta, and stir. Let it all simmer for 10 minutes then serve. If your family isn’t home yet, this can sit in the crock pot for a quite a while on low or even off, but be careful not to let the pasta get overcooked.

When reheating in the microwave, I like to add a little tomato juice to the bowl before I microwave it to make it a little more moist – the pasta tends to absorb the tomatoes and makes the dish a little dry. Microwave on 50% power for a minute at a time and stir in between minutes until it is warm to keep it from drying out more. I keep 5.5 oz. cans of tomato juice in the house for just this reason.