So, last night - Wednesday night - I cooked up a real melting pot of a dinner. For starters I made nopal salad. It's just pickled cactus with lime, tomatoes and cilantro, but it is so delicious. I know, everything is delicious, yummy, tasty or it sucks. That's how I roll.
For the main dish ------------ (I'm getting sick of dot dot dots all the time)drum roll please ---------- AMEWICAN CHOP SUEY. No, that was not a racist joke. Okay it was, but I feel I can make that joke because my parents were from the same side of the world, AND when I was a kid I couldn't pronounce my Rs either and my sisters and our flip friends all used to make fun of me for it. We would play Twister, and they would make me call out the squares just to hear me say "wed".
So American Chop Suey. What, you've never read this blog and you don't know what american chop suey is? It's beefaroni, baby. Beefaroni. I just like American Chop Suey better. Chop Suey is American after all. It's like saying French Pain Perdu or French French Toast. So anyway, the FP had mentioned American Chop Suey earlier in the day, and you know, I'm just put on this earth to please my man! (I'm so sad that Huckabee isn't getting the GOP nomination! :^()
So we went to the store - the Food Pimp for his cooking class, me for our dinner. So I said tomato sauce, and he said, you're going to make it. So I did. The funny thing was, the last time we had something like American Chop Suey was when he had the ... you know... down there...in the back...the ... c'mon... are you gonna make me write it?.... the brown waterfall!
After that enthralling background story, I know all you submissive spouses out there want my recipe:
1 lb large elbow pasta
2 onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans crushed tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil (I told you before, do not call it EVOO, O I have to punch you in the O)
1 c wine - red, white, pink, whateva
1.5 lb ground beef
1 pack mushrooms sliced
herbage - flat leaf parsley, basil,oregano fresh if you please
salt and pepper of course
sprinkle cheese for garnish if you want
Boil the pasta, drain, coat with olive oil.
Saute 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves. Turn the heat to medium and let them cook not too fast, until they are transparent, and maybe have a little color. Then turn the heat up and "deglaze" with the wine. Let it cook a minute or two. Add the crushed tomato, let it come to a boil, then turn down. Let it simmer 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Whisk in 1/2 c to 1 c extra virgin olive oil. Add some herbage.
Saute the rest of the onion and garlic in a really big pot with a fairly wide bottom (insert obvious joke here, if you must) if you have it. Add the mushrooms. Add the ground beef, and salt and pepper. Break it up, and spread it out. Let it sit on one side without pushing it around the pan for a few minutes. Then stir it around, and let it go another few minutes. Keep going, until the meat is all browned. Now, dump in the pasta, mix everything around, then dump in the sauce. Let it all soak in the hot tub for a few minutes. Now it's ready. Top it off with more herbs and sprinkle cheese and red pepper flakes if it tickles your fancy.
Take a look at this authentic ethnic dish that the whole family will love.
For the main dish ------------ (I'm getting sick of dot dot dots all the time)drum roll please ---------- AMEWICAN CHOP SUEY. No, that was not a racist joke. Okay it was, but I feel I can make that joke because my parents were from the same side of the world, AND when I was a kid I couldn't pronounce my Rs either and my sisters and our flip friends all used to make fun of me for it. We would play Twister, and they would make me call out the squares just to hear me say "wed".
So American Chop Suey. What, you've never read this blog and you don't know what american chop suey is? It's beefaroni, baby. Beefaroni. I just like American Chop Suey better. Chop Suey is American after all. It's like saying French Pain Perdu or French French Toast. So anyway, the FP had mentioned American Chop Suey earlier in the day, and you know, I'm just put on this earth to please my man! (I'm so sad that Huckabee isn't getting the GOP nomination! :^()
So we went to the store - the Food Pimp for his cooking class, me for our dinner. So I said tomato sauce, and he said, you're going to make it. So I did. The funny thing was, the last time we had something like American Chop Suey was when he had the ... you know... down there...in the back...the ... c'mon... are you gonna make me write it?.... the brown waterfall!
After that enthralling background story, I know all you submissive spouses out there want my recipe:
1 lb large elbow pasta
2 onions, diced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cans crushed tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil (I told you before, do not call it EVOO, O I have to punch you in the O)
1 c wine - red, white, pink, whateva
1.5 lb ground beef
1 pack mushrooms sliced
herbage - flat leaf parsley, basil,oregano fresh if you please
salt and pepper of course
sprinkle cheese for garnish if you want
Boil the pasta, drain, coat with olive oil.
Saute 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves. Turn the heat to medium and let them cook not too fast, until they are transparent, and maybe have a little color. Then turn the heat up and "deglaze" with the wine. Let it cook a minute or two. Add the crushed tomato, let it come to a boil, then turn down. Let it simmer 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Whisk in 1/2 c to 1 c extra virgin olive oil. Add some herbage.
Saute the rest of the onion and garlic in a really big pot with a fairly wide bottom (insert obvious joke here, if you must) if you have it. Add the mushrooms. Add the ground beef, and salt and pepper. Break it up, and spread it out. Let it sit on one side without pushing it around the pan for a few minutes. Then stir it around, and let it go another few minutes. Keep going, until the meat is all browned. Now, dump in the pasta, mix everything around, then dump in the sauce. Let it all soak in the hot tub for a few minutes. Now it's ready. Top it off with more herbs and sprinkle cheese and red pepper flakes if it tickles your fancy.
Take a look at this authentic ethnic dish that the whole family will love.
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