Pasta Casserole/Cp

This crockpot pasta casserole is basically a slow cooker beef stroganoff that comes together with almost no hands-on work. Ground beef and onion get browned in a skillet first to build flavor, then everything goes into the crockpot with a flour-thickened gravy spiked with Worcestershire sauce and red wine.

The low-and-slow cooking gives the flour time to thicken the broth into a proper gravy without any lumps. Two to three hours on low is all it takes. The mushrooms and sour cream go in at the very end so the mushrooms keep some texture and the sour cream stays creamy instead of breaking and turning grainy.

Cook the macaroni separately and add it right before serving. Pasta that sits in a crockpot too long absorbs all the liquid and turns to mush.

Kitchen Tips

• Brown the beef in batches and drain the fat well so the gravy isn’t greasy.
• Stir the flour into the meat mixture before adding liquid. This prevents lumps better than sprinkling flour into broth.
• Add the sour cream off-heat or on the brief high setting only. Extended heat curdles it.
• This reheats well, but add a splash of water or beef broth when warming leftovers since the pasta absorbs sauce overnight.

Variations

• Use egg noodles instead of elbow macaroni for a more traditional stroganoff feel.
• Stir in a tablespoon of Dijon mustard with the Worcestershire for a sharper, more complex gravy.
• Add frozen peas in the last 10 minutes for color and sweetness.