A simple, yet direct, request was sent to me by reader, Pam:
“Please send recipe for Armenian macaroni with meat, done in oven.”
Before I could send Pam a recipe, I emailed her asking for
a better description of the dish. I thought she might have been referring to manti – the tiny
boat-shaped dough with ground meat filling – that’s baked in the oven.
I gave this some more thought and suggested the Greek
recipe Pastitsio – pasta, meat, tomato, topped with bechamel sauce, then
oven-baked.
Pam said the recipe she was seeking was made with spaghetti,
meat, tomato. All together in oven.
After
researching, I sent Pam this message: “I found a recipe in my copy of Rose Baboian’s Armenian-American
Cookbook that might be what you’re looking for. Please take a look and see if
I’m getting close.”
I was going to post the recipe after Pam made it so I
could include her evaluation, but she’s in Armenia right now.
| The Armenian Kitchen’s version of Macaroni with Fried Meat |
(Dabgadz Misov Macaron)
Yields: 4 servings
Add: ¼ cup (1 small) finely
chopped onion. Continue browning 5 to 8 minutes more.
¼ cup finely chopped green pepper
2/3 cup finely chopped canned tomatoes
6 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 Tbsp. water
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. allspice
1 clove finely chopped garlic, optional
1/8 tsp. Aintab red pepper (or paprika mixed with a
little cayenne pepper)
¾ tsp. salt
Boil: 3 quarts water with 1 ½
Tbsp. salt.
Cook: according to package
directions; Drain.
Spread: into a 9”x9” baking pan.
| Most of my ingredients |
Here
are the changes I made:
I omitted the butter in the meat-cooking step. Any excess
fat was drained from the skillet.
Shhh: I secretly added a splash of Marsala wine to the sauce! J
Our
evaluation: It reminded us of Manti in casserole form.
Pretty good, really, and very easy to prepare!
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penne macaroni,ground beef or turkey,jar of sauce (i like Barillo sauce) one chopped onion, two cloves of garlic,you can add oregano or basil, parm. and shredded mozzarella cheeses.
If I use ground turkey i use wheat macaroni. Also I add cinnamon to the ground beef or turkey. After cook and drain macaroni. Little oil add onions and garlic then sauce. In casserole dish mix sauce and macaroni. Top with the cheeses. Bake until cheese melted and slightly browned. sandy
This is a very common dish in Lebanon (at least, I have eaten it many times when I was young--er). I suggest the following mods:
Add a handful (1/4 cup) pine nuts to the meat with the onions. Also add the allspice, black pepper, and red pepper at that time. Add the chopped garlic towards the end.
Instead of the green peppers, my mom used to put green peas. Just a little will do.
Use egg noodles, though of course any pasta will do. Don't forget to butter the pan.
Instead of mixing everything together, lay down a layer of pasta, then add the meat, then a final layer of pasta.
Put shredded parmesan (or a similar cheese) and bread crumbs on the top, for a gratinee effect.
I like the Marsala wine. It is easy for this dish to come out dry if you do not make sure that the meat mixture is moist. Alternatively, I think you can mix shredded mozzarella or another creamy cheese with the pasta (though it is a bit overkill for me).
My mother-in-law makes a similar dish but all done on the stove top. Yummy indeed. Maybe the baking gives it a bit more crunchiness on top? I'll have to give this a try!
I could eat this every day
and
not get sick of it!