American Chop Suey

So, it would have been neat to start my food blog with one of my favorite recipes or one that was spectacular.  Instead I start with the one I made last night!  A week ago I read a food blog (sorry, since I just started I cant cite it) that talked about American Chop Suey.  The dish looked interesting but the blog did not have a recipe.  So, I went searching for one.  Some websites had very basic ones and I had to search around till I found one that was interesting.  Finally I came around to cdkkitchen and a recipe for American Chop Suey that had been rated 3 stars so I decided to try it out.  

I use way too many pans, bowls, and spoons when cooking

The final product:

Here is the recipe with my changes from CDKitchen at http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/255/AmericanChopSuey69032.shtml

American Chop Suey

• 1 teaspoon olive oil 
• 1 red onion -- finely chopped 
  
• 1 large green bell pepper -- cored, seeded, and chopped 
  
• 4 cloves garlic -- finely chopped 
  
• 1.5 pounds lean ground chicken 
  
• 1 can (28 ounce size) crushed tomatoes with celery and green peppers 
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste 
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1 tablespoon grill seasoning 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 
  
• salt and black pepper -- to taste 
  
• 1 pound macaroni, ziti, or penne
  
• parmesan cheese
  

In a large pan heat the oil. When it is hot, cook the onion and green pepper over medium heat, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until the vegetables soften. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute. Add the ground chicken and grill seasoning and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the meat is cooked. Tip the pan and spoon off any fat.  Add the tomatoes and their liquid to the meat mixture. Stir in the tomato paste, water, oregano, red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes.  Cook the pasta.  When both are done, combine and top with cheese as needed.

So how did it taste?  Ok.  I thought it was a little bland while I was cooking so that is why I added more garlic and some more grill seasoning.  If you make it, it does taste better the next day and you might want to up the seasoning even more. Honestly, even though it has an interesting name it is basically the typical pasta that we usually make with chicken added.  Nothing really exciting.