Macaroni with Fried Meat
(Dabgatz Misov Macaron)
I needed an Armenian dish for Epiphany or Armenian Christmas but forgot to plan for it. So, I decided to browse through my favorite Armenian cookbook. About 25 years ago, my mother gave me a copy of Rose Baboian’s Armenian-American Cook Book. Rose published her cookbook in 1964, and it is still the Armenian cookbook that I turn to the most. Rose originally lived in Ainteb, and her cooking is very similar to the cooking of the people from Marash, where my grandparents were from. My mother remembers Rose Baboian, who attended the Cilician Armenian Memorial Church in Watertown, MA at the same time my mother’s family did in the 1950’s and 60’s. Because I wanted to only use what I have in my pantry and freezer, I settled on a recipe I have never heard of, Macaroni with Fried Meat.
I have no idea if Macaroni with Fried Meat is a traditional recipe. I just knew that I had all the ingredients needed to make it. It actually looks like the Armenian version of another recipe I’ve posted here, American Chop Suey. Instead, this dish uses flavors typical in other Armenian foods such as Aleppo pepper, allspice, garlic, and onion. It ended up tasting a bit like the filling of Armenian dolma (stuffed squash with meat and rice) or sarma (stuffed grape leaves with meat and rice). When she tasted it, one daughter said it tasted like lehmejun (an Armenian meat topped thin flatbread).
I decided to try something new to see if I could make this easier for me. I cooked the pasta in my Instant Pot with less water than I would normally use to boil it. My plan was, if there was any water left, I could just use a slotted spoon to get the pasta out. I found that there was very little water left. Success was mine! I came up with an alternative way to cook pasta, which is usually so very hard for me. I served this dish with some yogurt with a little minced garlic in it. We had leftover paklava from December 25th Christmas for dessert.
Macaroni with Fried Meat
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef or Lamb
- 4 Tablespoons Butter
- 1 cup Onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic finely minced
- 1 Red Bell Pepper finely chopped
- 1 6 oz can Tomato Paste
- 1 1/2 cups Crushed Tomatoes
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
To Serve:
- Serve with either, plain yogurt, or plain yogurt with a small amount of minced yogurt and a pinch of salt in it.
Instructions
- In a large saute pan, melt the butter and then saute the ground meat breaking it up, until cooked and no longer pink.
- Add the onion and garlic and continue cooking for 5 more minutes stirring occasionally.
- Mix in the red pepper, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste,water, black pepper, allspice, Aleppo pepper and salt.Stir and bring to a boil.Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Boil 1 lb of macaroni according to the package directions.Drain the pasta and mix with the meat mixture.
- Transfer to a 9×13 baking dish or pan.
- Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
