Skillet Meals Archives - Good Food St. Louis

Jungle Stew for a Quick Skillet Meal

February 7, 2022

Jungle Stew, a kid favorite

An Old Standby

Years ago when I was cooking for seven every day, I often needed a quick meal. An old standby that I clipped from the newspaper was called Quick Spaghetti Supper, but my family always referred to the medley as Jungle Stew. It was a term my kids gave to the “mystery meats” at the school cafeteria and a label they affectionately slapped on my skillet concoction as well.

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On Hand Ingredients

The recipe called for a few basic ingredients, that I always kept on hand: hamburger, spaghetti noodles, tomato soup, cheddar cheese, and canned corn. Following the directions, I broke the noodles into two-inch pieces and cooked them in the skillet along with everything else. It took less than a half hour to get the dish to the table.

I always set out the hot sauce for those who wanted a little more jolt.

A Kitchen Quicky

There are lots of similar recipes that require more ingredients and oven baking, but I’ve stuck with this one because of its simplicity and taste. It’s so easy that even a youngster can make it. Here’s a version—Church Supper Spaghetti—very similar to my old recipe, but using diced tomatoes rather than tomato soup.

I returned to making the hamburger-noodle mixture after my daughter-in-inquired about it. “You know, that dish you make with the funny name? You should put that on your blog,” Lisa suggested. Right away I knew she was talking about Jungle Stew.

“Desperation Stew”

I had ignored Jungle Stew, since it seemed so ordinary. But here it is. I’ve often thought it should be called Desperation Stew, because I threw it together so often when I was “desperate” or in a “stew.” 🙂

Jungle Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
2 Tbs. oil
1 onion, chopped
1 can (10-oz.) cream of tomato soup
1 cup water
½ pkg. (4-oz) uncooked spaghetti noodles
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste
1 small can of corn (or one ear of fresh corn)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

Sauté onion until lightly browned. Add meat and cook until beef is no longer pink. Add tomato soup, water, and uncooked noodles. Separate noodles so they don’t clump together. Cover with a lid.
Cook until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Add corn and mushrooms; stir. Top with the shredded cheese. Serve from skillet along with your favorite hot sauce.

Post: Updated 2/2022

Shepherd’s Pie for Soothing Simplicity

August 3, 2020

Shepherd’s Pie

Some of today’s recipes come from humble beginnings, having been born out of food shortages and hard times. One such is Shepherd’s Pie. We may eat it only on St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s typical pub grub served throughout the Irish and English countryside.

COVID Cuisine

It’s good to know you can come up with a tasty meal, if you have some ground beef, potatoes and a few vegetables. Austin, keeper of the family culinary flame, made this hearty Shepherd’s Pie while visiting me at the farm recently. I’d not made it for several years, so it was a real treat.

Like many other flavorful dishes, this one starts with a soffritto.

He chopped carrots, onions, and garlic to make a soffritto. (A parsnip would’ve been a worthy addition, but they’re not on my Instacart listing.) When the soffritto was soft and fragrant, he added ground beef.

I might pause here to point out that Shepherd’s Pie is normally made with ground lamb, a cheap an easy meat to find in the British Isles. When the dish is made with beef, it’s called Cottage Pie. Both names denote rural origins.

When the meat had browned nicely, Austin pushed the mixture aside and sprinkled in some flour—he likes to brown the flour a bit to get a nutty, more complex flavor. Next came the chicken stock, forming the binder that held the mixture together.

Meanwhile, he’d boiled and mashed potatoes, adding cheese and parmesan. You can also add a cooked and mashed turnip, if there’s not enough humbleness in the pie to suit you. 🙂

The potato topping.

Austin patted the meat and vegetable concoction into a cast iron skillet and smeared the potatoes on top. To achieve a good edge of brow, he scored the potatoes slightly with a fork before inserting in the oven.

Scoring with a fork gives a decorative touch to the pie.

I made this Shepherd’s Pie several years ago. See my recipe here, which has a few more ingredients than my grandson could find in my Covid-scarce pantry.