American Chop Suey

This is a common dish if you grew up around Boston, MA. Everybody had their own spin on it and it's pretty easy to make.

12oz. Box of Barilla Tri-Colored Rotini
1 lb. of lean ground beef (85%+)
1/2 lb. mild Italian sausages (Cut into bite sized slices)

Note: You can leave out the sausage and increase the ground beef to 1 1/2 lbs.

(2) 14.4 oz. cans of S&W Italian Recipe Stewed Tomatoes
2 large stalks of celery (chopped)
1 med. onion (chopped)
2 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
Shredded or Grated Parmesan Cheese for topping.

Optional
1 large green or red bell pepper (chopped)
1 cup mushooms (sliced)



Serves 4

Cook, until just soft, a box of your favorite shaped pasta that holds sauce well. Rotini, elbow or penne pasta are good examples. Look at your pasta's cooking directions and figure about 1-2 minutes less cooking time. The pasta will finish cooking later. Drain in colander well and set aside.

Put 1 tbl. olive oil in a large heavy skillet on medium heat. Once the oil is heated up, add garlic and saute 1 minute. Don't let the garlic burn. Add chopped onion, celery and optional bell pepper and mushrooms and saute until onion just starts to turn opaque. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside. Add 1 tbl. olive oil, ground beef, in small pieces, and sausage to skillet and brown meat throughly. Add back vegetables and stewed tomatoes, lower heat, partially cover skillet and medium simmer mixture for 12-15 minutes. Add pasta, salt & pepper to taste to skillet and low simmer an additional 5 minutes covered. Serve with warm bread. Note: This dish can be made ahead of time and refrigerated overnight. It actually tastes better day 2 because the spices have had time to marry better. Makes a great pot luck dish. You can add 1 tbl. of tomato paste to the meat while browning for a deeper tomato flavor.