thanks for the warm welcome you gave the good, the yum & the ugly last week. I’m glad you love ugly food as much as I do. I must admit I was surprised at a common theme in the feedback: apparently salmon rissoles aren’t ugly enough. Well fear not, ugly food lovers, this week’s recipe has ugly in spades.
Not only is my mince and macaroni casserole seriously unattractive, the recipe includes a tin of cream of mushroom soup which, let’s face it, is the world’s ugliest ingredient. It’s a simple equation really:
mince + cream of mushroom soup = (ugly)².
But, you know what’s worse than being (ugly)²? Being tasteless! I’ve been making this mince and macaroni casserole for my family forever. I promise it is hearty, filling and ideal fodder for the footy season.
mince and macaroni casserole
ingredients:
- 150g macaroni
- 2 brown onions, diced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 1 red capsicum, diced
- 500g beef mince
- 1 tin cream of mushroom soup
- 1 tin water
- small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 ½ cups grated cheese
- salt and pepper to season
method:
Cook the macaroni in salted water until just tender. Saute the onions, celery and capsicum in a little olive oil over a low heat until translucent. Turn up the heat, then brown the mince. Add the soup, water and 3/4 of the parsley. Cook for five minutes
In a greased casserole dish, combine the cooked macaroni and meat mixture. Top with grated cheese and cook in a 180ºC oven for forty minutes.
To soften the ugly, you may like to sprinkle the remaining parsley on top of the cheese before serving. 
The other great thing about this meal is it’s freezer friendly. Make the mince, assemble the casserole, top it with cheese and then bung it in the freezer for a healthy, late-home-from-swimming, ready-in-no-time mid-week meal.
what’s your favourite ugly fodder?
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I love curries and stews which are super delicious and super ugly. They take the worst photos but they are still my best loved dinners! This looks a perfect winter warmer and I love that it’s freezer friendly! I can’t wait for next week’s instalment!
Always looking for “late home from swimming” meals – I’ll try this one this week 🙂
My fusspots might like this as has pasta and mince in and I could smuggle some veggies in there! x
Ok so it’s a little uglier than the salmon rissoles but it still looks great to me!
What a delicious sounding family feast. I know our 3 kidlets and Zadada will give this a huge thumbs up.
Thanks for linking up with us here at Fabulous Foodie Fridays. have a gorgeous weekend Amanda. x
Oh I like this series, I managed to make my fish cakes very ugly this week that were met with very rude whines. This recipe sounds perfect for ‘after swimming” so I’m going to give it a whirl.
LOL, “ugly” food is the best! This is one for the ‘food my kids might actually eat’ Pinterest board. x
In our family, this type of meal is referred to as “pasta bake”….never particularly pretty, nor does it matter what the ingredients, as long as it is mixed with pasta, topped with cheese and popped in the oven, it is devoured and loved by all. They will definitely look forward to this one.