Thursday, December 17, 2009

[Heart] Note...to American Chop Suey

Growing up in a Polish family, there weren't any Sundays when a pot of spaghetti sauce sat simmering on the stove. I don't think I ever even saw a blue box of mac and cheese until I went to college.
Comfort food for my family was different. In fact, I can't really put my finger on what my comfort food of choice was when I was a kid--although I'd probably go with one of the many soups my mom used to make. Well, still makes.

But somewhere along the line, maybe at home, maybe in my high school cafeteria, maybe not until college I discovered what is called American Chop Suey by some, and I think is referred to as (American) Goulash by others. The joy here is that jarred sauce works. It doesn't need to be a labor of love. It just needs to coat the ground beef and onions and elbow noodles. Essentially, it's homemade hamburger helper (which I never had growing up either) and begs the question, Why ever use Hamburger Helper?

With four ingredients (onion, ground beef, jarred sauce, elbows or other twirly pasta), in twenty minutes you can make a vat of this almost mushy, scarfable comfort food. I [heart] American chop suey.


3 comments:

Amy said...

She brought me some for lunch. I heart it too. It was delish.

Tam and John said...

Must be Debbie Downer...can't even stand the smell of it. Perhaps the cases of Hamburger Helper I ate when married to KH played some part in my aversion???

Tam and John said...

PS I love that you bring food to your friends. Kind of like BLU, no?

Blog Widget by LinkWithin