Monday, June 24, 2013

Chili-Mac - The Dish That Made Me Run Away From Home

My grandmother was an extremely good cook.  I honestly do not remember her ever having a screw up.  We never had to suddenly run out to get some burgers or some dogs from Burger Chef from Der Weinerschnitzel.  She generally made a wide variety of dishes that kept us all happy and we were never bored to death of anything.  Never, that was, until the advent of chili-mac.

Maybe it was the ease of cooking or the fact that it was a meal in and of itself.  Maybe it was because my grandfather loved it.  I don't know why, but she seemed to fixate on one summer.  We had it several times every week.  Maybe beef was cheap.  I dunno.  Anyway, I liked it fine, to start with. Over time, though, I grew to dread and despise the stuff.  Maybe that should have been the signal to me that I was a food snob.  I did not take the hint.

One day, before running out to play with my friend, Darlene, I asked Mamaw what was for dinner.  "Chilimac" she said, as she scrubbed, or swept, or dusted something.  I cringed inwardly.  I did not live in a family where it was accepted to speak out about my feelings on the food on the table.  My grandfather earned the money to put food on the table and my grandmother worked hard to cook it.  It was my job to eat it all up, tell Mamaw how good it was, and kiss my grandfather good night when he went to bed early so he could get up and go to work again.  Even though I had had enough of chili-mac, I could say nothing.

As I soberly walked down to "the field" where we all congregated to play murderous kick ball or where Darlene and I ran through the thickets playing "Indians", I was appalled to think that I would have to choke down another bite of chili-mac.  Again, it was not bad food.  It was good food.  I was just sick and darned tired of the stuff.  It was at this point, I decided to run away from home rather than eat that stuff again.

I didn't tell anyone else about my plan.  I figured someone would give me up.  You could always count on some weaker kid to narc on you when the grown-ups put the thumbscrews to 'em.  I didn't have anything with me and quite frankly I didn't have a plan.  As time came to go home, Darlene said goodbye and I put my "plan" into action.  Ok, the plan consisted of hiding under this trailer's skirting.  It was the only trailer in our park with skirting.  Not much of a plan, but they had a water hose, so I could get a drink.  I sat under that trailer and time to come in for dinner came and went.  Mamaw came out to call me.  I could hear her calling as she walked up the crunch oyster shell road we lived on.  At first, she sounded put out, then she sounded aggravated as heck, then she started to sound worried.  Listening to her, at first I felt vindicated for having to eat the same thing all the time.  Then I felt smug and sniggly.  As she became more worried, I started to feel badly.  She called and called as she walked further into "the field".  I felt worse and worse.  I also realized I was hungry.  As she started coming back, she sounded frantic.  I thought about how worried she must be and I thought of how much trouble I was already in.  I knew I couldn't cross the street or go outside my neighborhood without permission, so I was trapped anyway.  Yes, I COULD have been a stand-in for Beaver Clever.  So, I hatched another plot.  I would just tell her I was playing a joke.  She'd laugh and say "You got me there", wouldn't she?

I poked my head out of the gap in the skirting as she walked by and said "Boo!"  It did make her jump.  She was so happy to see me and so mad at me, she couldn't say anything for a little while.  Then she started fussing at me and assuring me I was going to get the switch.  She did not laugh.  She did not think it was a funny joke.  I got home and I got fed.  I got a little bit of the riot act, but I don't remember getting switched, nor do I remember getting spanked.  Those really didn't happen often, so I remember the times they did.  I don't think she ever told my mother about my antics, so I guess I sort of got by with it.  I did feel horribly about scaring her.  It seemed to have pushed her panic button.  I had not figured out that, as an only child, I was particularly precious to them.

These days, being a food snob, I kind of sneer at the homely simplicity of chili-mac.  It is a simple food.  It is also filling and cost effective.  A pound of ground beef, a can of diced tomatoes, some tomato sauce, an onion, a bell pepper, a bit of pasta, and some Italian seasoning is really all it takes to make a meal that will fill some bellies.  It is a food that makes sense when you have mouths to feed and you want to save some dimes doing it.  Here is my adaptation of her recipe.  I will tell you her standard items if I've put in my own tweak.


Ingredients list:
1 pound of ground beef
1 regular size can of diced tomatoes
1 jar of your favorite ready made spaghetti sauce (or two regular cans of tomato sauce)
1 tbsp. of tomato paste (optional, but she used it)
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (she used green, I like red or yellow)
2-3 cloves of garlic (use more or less, as you see fit)
Italian seasoning
Bay leaf
Salt
Pepper
Elbow macaroni (this is traditional, but I also like shells or rigatoni or penne) Use as much as you like.  More pasta = more stretched sauce.
Shredded cheese (to put on top, use what you like)

Hardware:
Heavy skillet
Pasta pot
A large collander

In a heavy skillet, brown your ground beef.  Brown it really good, so that you get the dark brown tasty bits on the meat and in the pan.  Once the beef is brown, turn off the fire and drain the meat in the colander.  Catch the grease so it doesn't clog up your drain.  Yes, I have had this issue.

Right about now, put your pasta on to boil.  Add in the water and put salt in it.  Put a lot of salt in it.  Your pasta water really should taste like the ocean.  Bring that pot to a rolling boil and add in your pasta.  You can multi-task here as you also should be working on getting your sauce cooked.  Set a time on your pasta for 8-9 minutes.  When it goes off, check that the pasta is exactly the way you like it.  When it is, drain it and put it back into the pasta pot, with the lid on and let it wait.

In the meantime, put the skillet back on the stove and turn on the heat again.  Add in the onion, pepper, and garlic.  Add a pinch of salt to get some of the veggies juices flowing.  Cook these over medium high heat for a while. You want them to brown a little.  That carmelization is flavor, so don't be afraid.  Stir it around and get the brown bits off the bottom of the pan too.  When they're soft and the onions are translucent, add in the tomato paste, if you decide to use it, and stir it around for a few minutes.  You're kind of blooming the paste.  If you don't do this, you get a raw tomato paste flavor and it's not good.  Keep stirring, because the paste will burn.  Now, add to tomato sauce or the spaghetti sauce and the diced tomatoes.  Stir the concoction up to incorporate the paste, if you added it. 


Now, add you Italian seasoning, bay leaf, salt, and pepper.  How much?  About 2 tsps. of the Italian seasoning.  Salt and pepper is to taste.  You can start with a little and add as you go.  You can't take salt out, or pepper.  I don't care what kind of "tricks' you've heard of, you can't do it.

Cook your sauce on medium now for about 15-20 minutes to marry things up.  Stir it occasionally to make sure nothing sticks or burns. There is a lot of natural sugar in tomatoes and the stupid food corporations put it in the sauces too.  If you're not compulsive about checking to make sure your sauces don't have it, you'll be putting hidden sugar in your pot.  Anyway, let her plorp, plop, plip for a while.  Taste the sauce while it cooks.  Is there enough Italian seasoning?  Is there enough salt and pepper?  Adjust things along the way.  This is your fine tuning time.


When the sauce has married and is as blended as two lovers in their embrace, it's time to turn off the heat and put the sauce into your pasta pot with the cooked pasta.  Now, stir things up and let them sit for about 5 minutes, while you get the plates, some bread, and build your iced tea.

Serve your chili-mac with some nice bread and a sprinkle of your favorite shredded cheese.  I personally like pecorino Romano.  You could serve a salad too, if you like. 



I hope you enjoy Mamaw's simple little dish.  Once you've made it a time or two, you can start riffin' on it like it's your own.  Just don't make it several times a week.  If you do, you may end up with a kid hiding under the trailer down the street. 

This recipe is also a salute to my childhood friend, Darlene Tucker, who recently passed from this Earth way too darned soon.  I hope she's running through Heaven's woods like the happy wild child I remember as my best friend.

1 comment:

  1. My mom used to make something just like this too! This should be another great one to make for the kids--it may be a good way of getting my uber-picky toddler to eat some veg. And if he doesn't like it, at least we don't have any trailers around for him to hide under. ;)

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