We had the missionaries over for dinner last night. For those of you unfamiliar, imagine a couple of young men, left to their own devices (in the food arena) for a couple years. You'd enjoy a home-cooked meal, right? Well, actually in our area, the missionaries have a place to go for dinner almost every night so they get a lot of home-cooked meals. I saw this casserole recipe at Simply Recipes and thought it sounded good. When I planned this meal, I didn't know it would be 87 degrees, but it was still homey, comfort food. I've never heard of Talerine Casserole, but apparently it's been around for a while. It came together relatively quickly and was simple and delicious.
I used a food processor to finely chop the red bell pepper, onion and garlic. I didn't think my kids would eat them if they were chunky at all. They melted wonderfully into the tomatoes. I also cut back on the cheese a little as well.For dessert I threw together a simple Molten Chocolate cake made from a box cake mix (gasp!) and instant chocolate pudding (double gasp!). It's really good, trust me.
Talerine Beef Casserole Recipe
adapted from Simply Recipes
Ingredients
12 ounce bag egg noodles
1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
1 bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed, chopped fine
3 minced clove of garlic (I used half these amounts and processed in a food processor)
Grapeseed oil or olive oil for sautéing
1 1/2 pounds ground round beef
Salt (I used grill seasoning)
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 28-ounce can tomatoes
1 1/2 cups frozen corn (can use canned corn or creamed corn)
1 15-ounce can of black olives, strained and chopped
1 pound cheddar cheese, grated (I used about 1 1/2 cups of cheese)
Method
1 Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the egg noodles.
2 Heat 2 Tbsp of oil on medium high heat in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add the onions and bell pepper and sauté until softened. Add garlic and cook for a minute more. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with your fingers or a knife, if you are using whole canned tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to warm.
3 In a separate skillet, heat to medium-high. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan and brown the meat, working in batches. Break up about half of the ground beef into the pan. Do not stir, but let sit and cook for a minute or two until brown. Sprinkle a little salt over the meat while cooking. Once brown on one side, stir the meat a little to get the other sides browned. Once the meat is thoroughly browned, use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and put it in with the tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Brown the second batch of ground beef the same way.
4 Using the same pan that you had used for browning the beef, sauté the mushrooms in the remaining oil and beef drippings. Once browned, add the mushrooms to the beef and tomato mixture.
5 While the mushrooms are cooking, add the egg noodle pasta to the boiling water. Cook as directed, about 4-5 minutes. Strain when cooked, but still a little firm (al dente).
6 Add egg noodles, corn, chopped olives, and about two thirds of the cheese to the large pot of beef and tomato mixture. Gently mix in.
7 Transfer mixture to a large casserole dish, or to two casserole dishes if you don't have one that is large enough. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole(s). Place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes (can go as long as an hour).
Molten Chocolate Pudding Cake Recipe
1 pkg. Devil's food cake mix
1 pkg. (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups Cold milk
1 pkg (8-serving size) Jell-o chocolate pudding & pie filling
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 x 9 pan.
Prepare cake mix as directed on package (I use butter instead of oil and milk instead of water). Stir in half of the chocolate chunks. Pour into prepared dish; set aside.
Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 1 min. or until well blended. Pour over cake batter, starting from the center and spreading our; sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chunks.
Bake until cake appears baked in the center, about an hour. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
While I did think these were tasty, they needed the frosting. I tried a piece plain and it was way too spicy for me. I liked how the chocolate mellows the spice out; it's a good combination. I may have overbaked them a little. As she says in the recipe, Dorie recommends trimming the crunchy portions. Since I had muffins, if I trimmed the crunchy portions, I would've been left with muffin holes. But they were still good, I would make them again. Head to Sherry Trifle for the recipe!
