S U N DA Y , N O V E M BE R 2 8 , 2 0 0 4

American Chop Suey

Iron-willed does not even begin to describe my mom. When I was six, she gave birth to my youngest brother, G, and fell into a post-partum depression from which it took nearly a decade to emerge. For the first few years, most days she was still in bed when we came home from school. But somehow, once we were there and wreaking the havoc three boys and a girl create, shed pull herself out of bed and start making dinner. She always, always, baked cupcakes to send to school on our birthdays. Many Friday afternoons were spent baking challah for Shabbat. And she was often a chaperone on class trips. I cant quite reconcile my memories of tiptoeing into her darkened bedroom with knowing how involved she remained in our lives. I can only chalk it up to Herculean strength of will. As if it wasnt difficult enough to be in the throes of an untreated depressionmy dads insurance didnt cover mental health carewe were also quite poor by local Westchester standards. Daddy didnt make bad money, I dont thinkhe was a chemist, and ran the lab for a local companybut there were four kids to feed and clothe, and doctor bills, and the facts that Mommy grew up with money and we lived in a wealthy community lent a certain Keeping Up with the Joneses urgency to the situation. As a family, we felt poor, all the time. We were evicted from one apartment while my mother was heavily pregnant with G, and the rent on the new place was almost always at least a month behindmy dad would catch up out of his yearly Christmas bonus, but by February wed be behind again. Once we were all teenagers or beyond, my mom told us that the only reason we hadnt been evicted from there as well was because the landlord appreciated how well-behaved we four were in public. Honorable poverty, perhaps. If he only knew what battles raged behind our apartment door, of both the sibling variety and the more terrifying parental ones Six nights a week, Mommy put dinner on the tableon Thursdays, payday, Daddy

would pick up pizza from Sals, but the rest of the time was home cooking. Wed eat at 5:30, when Daddy came home, so he could be on time to his second job selling televisions at Korvettes. I cannot imagine how she did thisI have a hard enough time cooking for me and S four or five nights a week, and money for food isnt an issue here. How did she nightly feed six people (with massive amounts of food, no less, since wed almost all want seconds every night), on a tight budget with kosher meat, which cost nearly double at the time? Why wasnt she pulling her hair out from the stress of satisfying her childrens picky appetites? Somehow, she fed us all, and well. Mostly it was a question of using inexpensive ingredients, fleshed out with a little meat. Saturday nights were for hot dogs or spaghettiand sometimes combined, in a bizarrely delicious dish involving sauted sliced hot dogs and onions and jarred sauce. Perhaps once a week it was frozen food, like fish sticks. Wonderful homemade macaroni and cheese, using a recipe from her Oster blender handbook. Hamburgers. Salami and eggs. Friday nights, Shabbat, were mostly chicken or a roastif I remember correctly, that was the only night of the week when we regularly had a piece of meat as the main course. Even things like chicken cutlets were beyond our budgets reach for weeknights. One of our favorite weeknight dinners was American Chop Suey. Its not even remotely Chinese, made as it is with elbow macaroni, ground beef, tomato sauce, and Worcestershirethe name is a mystery to me. My mom cant remember anymore where she got the recipe, and for years I assumed it was just some clipping from a random womens magazine. But when S and I were on our New England honeymoon, we saw it on the menus of several home-style restaurants. It turns out its a local dish, and since my moms originally from outside Boston that makes sense. I couldnt bring myself to try it up therethe idea of eating a dish from my money-haunted childhood in a restaurant was too contrary for mebut when we got home I asked my mom for her recipe. Ive made it several times since, substituting ground turkey for the beef, and boy does it bring back memories. Its a great, fast supper, filling and cozy and satisfying. The Worcestershire adds a mellow richness to it, taking the acidic tang off the tomato sauce. And best of all, the recipe makes plenty of leftovers. American Chop Suey Olive oil 1 lbs ground meat [growing up it was beef, but I use a combo of ground turkey breast and regular ground turkey] lb (2 c.) uncooked elbow macaroni c minced onion c chopped pepper or celery [if I have them, I use both red peppers & celery; my mom usually made it with green peppers & celery] 2 8-oz cans tomato sauce 1 c water 1 t salt t pepper 1-1 T Worcestershire sauce

(make sure your pan is large enoughI made a one-and-a-half recipe and you can see the results!) In a large saut pan, heat a glug or two of olive oil [if youre using ground beef you probably dont need the oil]. Brown the meat and remove. Wipe out the pan, and add a little more oil. When its heated, saut the macaroni and the vegetables until the onion is soft. Return the browned meat to the pan and add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes.