Jun 5, 2007

Not Yer Mamma's Beef and Noodles

So how difficult can beef and noodles be to make? They're not. How good are beef and noodles, typically? How.. blah, really. And it usually contains mushrooms, which Sic_un cannot eat. So looking into the freezer and the pantry and what we have to eat and all that, I decided I'd make some beef and noodles, but a tomato based dish, not a cream based dish.

Oh. Wait. I'm adding sour cream to mine, it'll be creamy. But not cooked cream based. You'll see.

Not Yer Mamma's: Beef and Noodles

1/2 pound beef (ground is fine, thinly sliced chuck is fine, you only need 1/2 a pound)
2 tablespoons Italian herb seasoning (should contain some thyme, oregano, basil and garlic)
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14 oz. can petite diced tomatoes with onion
1/2 onion, chopped to about 1/4-1/2 inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced fine
1/2 teaspoon 'seasoning salt' (I used Morton)
1/2 pound wide egg noodles

Pack the herbs around the meat, sprinkle with the worcestershire sauce and bag it up and chill it for at least 8 hours. -I popped mine in the fridge this morning, it's ready to go after work.
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat until shimmery. Put in the onion and garlic, cook while stirring for 1 minute or so, until slightly softened. Throw in the meat, breaking it up into small pieces as you go (if using ground). Cook over medium heat until barely browned. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomato, stirring it in.
PLAY WITH YOUR SPICES. I used the Morton, a bit of pepper and slapped up some other herbs into it. This is by your taste buds, not mine.
Start the noodles, should take about 8-10 minutes to cook.
While the noodles are going, you're going to be reducing the sauce until the majority of the liquid is gone.
Once the noodles are done, drain them, mix the 2 pans together in the noodle pan and you're done.

This recipe took me about 30 minutes to make. There's a lot of down time where you can throw together a salad and maybe heat some biscuits if you want... A good bruschetta would be good here, as would a starting wine and cheese course. It's good stuff. I spiced mine up a bit, and added the sour cream to do the creamy. 2 Tablespoons of sour cream, mix it in the bowl.