Talerine Beef Casserole

Made this last week when Diana was here and 'twas quite the hit with everybody. Nothing fancy, but far superior to the 1970's similar deal with Kraft mac n cheese, ground beef, and spaghetti sauce. I used frozen gumbo vegetables (corn, peppers, okra)and spinach fettucine, which worked fine.

Talerine Beef Casserole Recipe


Ingredients

* 12 ounce bag egg noodles
* 1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
* 1 bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed, chopped fine
* 3 minced clove of garlic
* Grapeseed oil or olive oil for sautéing
* 1 1/2 pounds ground round beef
* Salt
* 4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
* 1 28-ounce can tomatoes
* 1 1/2 cups frozen corn (can use canned corn or creamed corn)
* 1 15-ounce can of black olives, strained and chopped
* 1 pound cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1 Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the egg noodles.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of oil on medium high heat in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add the onions and bell pepper and sauté until softened. Add garlic and cook for a minute more. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with your fingers or a knife, if you are using whole canned tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to warm.

3 In a separate skillet, heat to medium-high. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan and brown the meat, working in batches. Break up about half of the ground beef into the pan. Do not stir, but let sit and cook for a minute or two until brown. Sprinkle a little salt over the meat while cooking. Once brown on one side, stir the meat a little to get the other sides browned. Once the meat is thoroughly browned, use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and put it in with the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Brown the second batch of ground beef the same way.

4 Using the same pan that you had used for browning the beef, sauté the mushrooms in the remaining oil and beef drippings. Once browned, add the mushrooms to the beef and tomato mixture.

5 While the mushrooms are cooking, add the egg noodle pasta to the boiling water. Cook as directed, about 4-5 minutes. Strain when cooked, but still a little firm (al dente).

6 Add egg noodles, corn, chopped olives, and about two thirds of the cheese to the large pot of beef and tomato mixture. Gently mix in.

7 Transfer mixture to a large casserole dish, or to two casserole dishes if you don't have one that is large enough. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole(s). Place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes (can go as long as an hour).

Serves 8.