I got a kick out of Thrillist.com’s “22 Things You’ve Definitely Eaten If You Grew Up In New England” post the other day. All the usual suspects were there – Fluffernutters, NECCO Wafers, Hoodsie Cups…
But I learned something, too. Apparently, American Chop Suey is a New England thing. I was shocked. Just shocked, I tell you. I grew up on the stuff. Who knew it was colloquial chow?
I should mention that American Chop Suey should not be confused with Chow Mein Sandwiches, a “delicacy” on the SouthCoast. The sandwich is comprised of gloppy chow mein – complete with those crunchy sticks – in a white sub roll. I still don’t get it but it’s a staple at church fairs in New Bedford and Fall River. Blech. Excuse me while I go hunt down the malasadas. But I digress…
American Chop Suey is anti-fancy food: ground hamburger, chopped onions, chopped green peppers, elbow macaroni and tomato sauce. It has to be elbows, but I can live with the small shells in a pinch. I once saw my Aunt Rose dump chopped carrots into her version. I fled her kitchen in disgust, but I am sure I ate it.
As a chubby kid, nothing made me happier than discovering “American Chop Suey” on the school lunch menu. And the cafeteria stuff couldn’t come close to my mother’s recipe that was made with her own tomato sauce.
“Ugh, I make such a pig of myself when I make it,” Mom said the other night. “So I don’t make it that often. It kills me, you know, because your father and I love it.”
My vat of American Chopped Suey
Who doesn’t? My New York-bred husband, to whom I introduced this dish 28 years ago, will eat the entire pot of it topped with Parmesan cheese unless I don’t quickly scrape the rest of the pot into Tupperware. To slim things down (guffaws expected here), I now make it with ground turkey or chicken. But Steve still needs a sherpa to scale the mountain of American Chop Suey in his bowl.
So after last week’s fretful Tuesday in the Paraclete Academy kitchen wondering how many kids would turn their noses up at teriyaki salmon a la Ming Tsai (only two), I vowed this week to make something familiar that I knew everyone – except the vegetarian teachers — would eat.
And yes, I made my own marinara sauce.
My marinara bubbles away in the big stockpot
Even after the kids shouted out in unison, “Thank you, Miss Laura,” I noticed that the American Chop Suey didn’t wow everyone. It’s got to be a generational thing.
Others asked for seconds on salad topped with my own Italian vinaigrette, and a table scrum broke out over the extra warm garlic bread (real garlic, parsley and olive oil). Go figure.
My weekly kitchen helper/critic later told me — after his large second helping of suey — that not all kids like “the brown pasta.”
“Next time use the white,” he ordered.
Silly me. I thought they wouldn’t notice that I used wheat elbows or ground turkey instead of hamburger. This Tuesday night gig in the Paraclete kitchen is an eye opener.
Being my mother’s daughter, I made waaaay too much. Four tubs of American Chop Suey were stowed in the freezer — like that would ever happen in my house.
As for the apple raisin cake I baked for dessert, I noticed there were a few pieces left.
My girl, B, whose kitchen job was to sprinkle grated Parmesan over the 25 helpings of pasta, was despondent over dessert because it had raisins in it.
Mrs. Lamb’s Apple Cake
“I hate raisins,” she whined.
“Taste it,” I cajoled. “Please.”
So she did.
“Nope,” B said. “Still hate raisins. Now what am I going to have for dessert?”
Well, how about more American Chop Suey?
Tags: #applecake, #cooking, #cookingforkids, #LauraRaposa, #paracleteacademy, americanchopsuey, Baking, Cake, garlicbread, raisins, wheatpasta