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Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef
#Pasta
Extremely delicious

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef. They remind us of Bolognese sauce, but these are made so much quicker and contain a lot more vegetables. Quick and easy.

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef
Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef is similar to a quick Bolognese sauce, but it contains a lot more vegetables, like onions, garlic, carrots, celery, tomatoes. I admit, we are the biggest Bolognese sauce fans, but we like to make it like Italians, traditionally. Cooking the sauce for many hours and giving it a lot of attention. However, a lot of times, that’s hard to do during the week and so when we crave a good bolognese pasta, this is our cheaty, go-to version. After doing some research I learnt that in the United States this dish is also pretty similar to a dish called Hamburger Helper, which we found super interesting. This is such an easy pasta dish, that’s packed with veggies, ground beef and macaroni. You could use other varieties of pasta, but in our opinion, macaroni is the best option, because it’s not to big and it compliments the beef sauce beautifully. We also used a trick, that we never use with bolognese sauce, and that’s adding a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella cheese at the end, something we saw when doing a research (Hamburger Helper) and it truly was a lovely addition. Sprinkle with parsley right before serving to add a bit of freshness. Delicious, easy, affordable and quick. Make sure to add this one to your ground beef recipes collection soon.

 

This macaroni recipe is truly divine. The sauce melts in your mouth and it’s so full of flavor, yum. We used macaroni in this recipe because we love the texture and we love to eat this dish with a spoon, as that’s the best way to eat comfort foods, am I right? We used whole canned tomatoes in this recipe, but you can use fresh chopped tomatoes mixed with some homemade tomato sauce too, but since the tomatoes aren’t in season right now, we used the canned version. You can also use a mixture of ground beef and ground pork for this recipe if that’s what you prefer.

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

Mmm, I mean, just look at that melted cheese? Isn’t that pure cheese perfection? I honestly can’t believe this dish is made in just 40 minutes from start to finish, yum.

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

 

Lets get cooking!

ONLY A FEW MOMENTS SPENT IN THE KITCHEN AND YOU WILL HAVE THIS FANTASTIC DISH IN FRONT OF YOU.
  • serves
    4
    people
  • preparation:
    10
    minutes
  • cook:
    30
    minutes
  • total time:
    40
    minutes

METHOD

  • cook the vegetables

    Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, diced onion, chopped garlic, chopped celery and chopped carrot. Stir to combine and cook for about 5 minutes, for the veggies to become soft and the onion translucent. Transfer to a bowl.

  • Ground beef

    Place the skillet back on the high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and ground beef. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the meat is brown and beautifully caramelized, stirring occasionally. Add balsamic vinegar, stir to combine. Return the vegetables to the ground beef, add the canned tomatoes, 1 cup of water, bay leaf, dried oregano, black pepper (to taste) and cover with a lid. Cook for about 20 minutes.

    Tip
    The balsamic vinegar will add a lovely sweet aroma to the dish.
  • Cook the macaroni

    Cook the macaroni according to instructions on the package. When the macaroni are cooked, drain them and reserve 50 ml of cooking water.

  • Easy Macaroni with Ground Beef

    Season the Ground Beef sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Add a tablespoon of chopped parsley and stir to combine. Remove the bay leaf and add the cooked macaroni and reserved water. Stir to combine. Arrange the grated cheese on top, cover with a lid and cook over very low heat for about 2 - 3 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Divide between four plates and serve.

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