May 12, 2010

Smokehouse Stew

"For-a-Crowd" Recipes, bacon, beans, Ground Beef, main dish, One-Dish Dinners, pasta, stovetop, tomatoes

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52 ratings

Prep time: 32 minutes
cooking time 10 minutes
Servings: 8 to 10
Partner: Whole-Wheat Herb Bread

Grandpa told us this colorful stew never failed to brighten his day.

Ingredients

8 ounces hickory-smoked bacon
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 large onions, chopped
2 large green bell peppers, chopped
1 (16-ounce) can red kidney beans
1 (8-ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cups cooked penne rigate
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 cups tomato juice

Directions

1

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until browned and crisp. Remove and crumble bacon; drain the skillet.
2

Add ground beef, salt and black pepper to the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until ground beef is browned and crumbly; drain well.
3

Add onions and bell peppers to the ground beef mixture and mix well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes longer.
4

Add bacon, beans, mushrooms, pasta, tomatoes and tomato juice to ground beef mixture and mix well.
5

Cook the stew just until heated through, about 10 minutes. Ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.

Grandma's Secret Trick

Grandma knew so many ways to vary this down-home dish. To make a Mexican stew, which she called posole, she used chili powder instead of black pepper and two 4-ounce cans chopped green chiles instead of green bell peppers. Instead of pasta, she used one 15-ounce can hominy, drained.