American Chop Suey is Meghan’s comfort food. It’s quick to cook so I can generally make it on short notice, when I know she’s had a really bad day.
The instructions below are meant for multi-tasking and making everything come together at the right time — an expression of an unplanned dinner made on short notice. 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 pound of small-shape pasta (elbows, mini-shells, or rotini are all good)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced
- 2-5 cloves of garlic
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 15 oz or so, depends on how saucy you like it
- 1 or 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- olive oil
You’ll also need a large skillet and a 9×13 glass pan to go in the oven.
Steps
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Put on a pot of water to boil, and put on a large skillet on the stove with medium-low heat
- Dice onion and pepper
- When the water is very close to boiling, turn up the skillet to medium heat, add some oil, and throw in the onions and peppers
- When the water boils, add the hamburger to the skillet and brown it with the onions and peppers
- Put the pasta in the water and cook to al dente; strain. If the meat isn’t done yet, toss with a little oil to keep it from sticking.
- When the meat is brown, drain off the fat and mix in the jar of sauce. Put back on medium heat until the sauce starts to bubble.
- Pour the cooked pasta into the 9×13 pan, and stir in the meat sauce.
- Sprinkle (or if you’re like me, shovel) the cheese on top, cover with foil, and cook at 350° for 20 minutes