Recipe
I really, really, really hope that Grammie’s Beef Casserole doesn’t go the way the previously posted casseroles went, right into the Horrible bin.
The ingredients were, like all these recipes, simple.
The instructions, however, were a shit show from the beginning. Was I supposed to brown the beef (I did) and dilute the soup (I didn’t)? Was it 8 ounces of cooked pasta or 8 ounces of uncooked pasta (I measured 8 ounces before I put the angel hair pasta in the pot)? Why on earth was the ground beef not cooked with the onion/green pepper/celery mix (it seemed really odd to add that mixture to the noodles)? One pound of ground beef seemed like a very small amount in comparison to the big bowl of cooked noodles. I only got two layers out of the whole business and dotted the cream of chicken soup on top of each layer. It wasn’t pretty.
Grammie
I absolutely love this photo of Grammie, Grampie, and my Dad taken in 1950!
Final Product
After the Beef Casserole had been in the oven for about 20 minutes at 325 degrees, the soup still looked like the photo above so I used my spatula and spread it out. Because it had warmed up in the oven, it spread better than I would have suspected when I assembled the casserole.
Warning: this is not a pretty dish.
VERDICT: Not So Bad
Okay, so no one is going to like this but me I can already tell, but I’m going ahead and giving it a Not So Bad verdict. The angel hair pasta was totally the way to go and there was just enough flavor for me to want seconds. Granted, there will definitely be some changes made the next time I make this, namely, more beef (and less green pepper and celery by half). For a recipe named Beef Casserole, the beef to noodle ratio was WAY off so next time I would brown two pounds and cook the beef with the onion mixture, throwing in a couple sprinkles of salt for good measure. And, it turns out, I could have totally spread the cream of chicken soup with the back of a spoon so I’ll make sure to do that next time.
From Box to Book 