Kindofa down and dirty Johnny Mazetti Spaghetti, Zanzetti was one of my Aunt Buzz’s default dishes for a busy day.
Simple to make and pretty basic – well, Buzz’s was – I tend to, as she put it “gorp things up” by adding extra veggies and Sriracha and stuff.
Buzz was not down with the gorping and Sriracha, but y’know what? This is still a pretty decent (and tasty) dish for those days when you have a lot of other stuff to do.
And, sodium counts aside, this isn’t too, too bad for you; when you consider that the Kraft Dinner and Tomato Soup folk have cut waaay back on the artificial flavors and all that nasty stuff. Still… this is a “busy day, I really do not have time to deal with this stuff” dinner – not something for every day.
Kinda like eating at a burger place.
INGREDIENTS
•1 box Kraft dinner
•1/4 cup (4 tbsp) butter
•1/4 cup milk
•1 lb ground beef
•1/4 tsp paprika
•1/4 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1/4 tsp dried parsley
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
•1 sweet onion, diced
•1 green pepper, diced
•1 can tomato soup
•2 tbsp (or more or less) Sriracha
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce
•Tellicherry pepper
No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply leave it out, or, you could mebbe replace it with a bit of Worcestershire or your fave hot sauce.
Warm a pan over medium high heat, then add the ground beef and cook, breaking the beef up into small pieces, for a couple of minutes.
Note: I use 80% lean ground chuck, because, as Julia Child once noted: “Fat gives things flavor.” so I do not add oil or butter to the pan.
Add the paprika, Seasoned Salt, dried parsley, and one tablespoon of the Sherry Peppers Sauce to the meat along with the diced onion and green pepper.
Cook, stirring often, until the onion and pepper are tender and most of the cooking liquid released has been cooked off. Transfer the meat mixture to a colander to drain.
Allow the pan to cool a bit, then add water and bring to a boil.
Stir in one teaspoon of salt, then add the macaroni and cook according to package directions – 7-1/2 minutes.
Drain the cooked macaroni, then return to the pan along with the butter, milk, and the cheese packet.
Stir until the mac and cheese is creamy and smooth, then stir in the Siracha (mebbe start with one tablespoon) and another tablespoon of Sherry Peppers Sauce, the can of tomato soup, and the drained meat and veggie mixture.
Cook, stirring often, over low heat, until the Zanzetti is heated through.
Aunt Buzz would’ve probably added a nice salad and a bit of garlic and herb bread, but this is my go to “I don’t wanna cook, but we need to have dinner” recipe, so we just added a nice bit of freshly ground black pepper and called it a day.
Works for me.