Johnny Marzetti Casserole

Johnny Marzetti Casserole, a photo by Shutterfool on Flickr.

Johnny Marzetti Recipe and History

I have been making Johnny Marzetti for years and years.  Recently my son asked if I have all my recipes in our family cookbook. 

On further inspection of my cookbook, (a Scrapbook Cookbook I made), I realized that I have not added recipes I use often and know from memory.  For instance my deviled eggs recipe is missing, simply because I just whip them up.    So for the last couple of weeks I have been trying to add recipes that I know the kids love, but I have neglected to write down. One of those happens to be the Johnny Marzetti.  I decided to find out a little history on the creation of such an easy, delicious and well known recipe and was surprised to find out it was created right here in Ohio. 

Ohioan Teresa Marzetti was the first person to serve the casserole Johnny Marzetti in their family restaurant.

In 1896, Italian immigrant Marzetti arrived in the United States of America. That same year, Marzetti established an Italian restaurant in Columbus, Ohio on Broad Street. That restaurant closed in 1942, but another restaurant owned by the family, which had opened in 1919, remained in operation until 1972, when Teresa Marzetti died.

Before opening the original restaurant, Marzetti wrote, "We will start a new place and serve good food. At a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but we will serve good food."

Owners Teresa and Joseph Marzetti sought a simple main course, easy and cheap to make. 

It had to be scalable to feed the masses, the starved college students from Ohio State University just down the street.  One of the dishes that Marzetti offered her customers became known as Johnny Marzetti, which was named after Teresa Marzetti's brother-in-law. A baked casserole, the dish included ground beef, cheese, tomato sauce, and noodles. It was a sensation at 45 cents.

 

It is unclear when Marzetti's restaurant first offered the dish, but by the 1920s, it had become popular across Ohio and the Midwest. This was primarily due to the ease of preparation and the tastiness of Johnny Marzetti.

Then the Columbus Public Schools got wind of it and served it in school cafeterias. This made the casserole a staple in schools throughout the state. It remains the No. 1 cafeteria dish fondly remembered and duplicated at home.

Other ingredients and seasonings have been added over the years, to adjust to the taste of different cooks. The dish spread to other parts of the United States when Marzetti released the recipe and variations of it were published in magazines and cookbooks during the mid-20th century. The dish is still served in Ohio, especially at social gatherings and in school lunchrooms.

Although the Marzetti’s restaurant is long gone, her salad dressings continue on with the Marzetti Company, and her signature casserole dish is still popular.

Even the U.S. Army grabbed it for battlefield kitchens. Troops in Panama ate so much of it,  it spilled over into the community. Locals still call it “Johnny Marzetti” and add olives and Arturo sauce. They also claim it as their national dish.

The Ohio Historical Society has preserved Teresa Marzetti’s original recipe. It’s the mother recipe for all the ones that followed. Here it is:

THE ORIGINAL JOHNNY MARZETTI

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped
3⁄4 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 pounds lean ground beef
3 1⁄2 cups tomato sauce
1 1⁄2 pounds cheddar cheese, shredded
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked and drained

 

Sauté onion in oil until limp, about 3 minutes.
Add mushrooms and fry until juices are released, about 5 minutes.
Add beef and cook, stirring, breaking up clumps, until no longer red.
Remove from heat and mix in tomato sauce and all but 1 cup of cheese.
Transfer to greased 9- by 13-inch baking dish and add macaroni.
Toss gently to mix. Scatter remaining cheese on top. Bake, uncovered, in 350-degree oven until browned and bubbling (35 to 40 minutes). Serves 10 to 12.

 

My husband Bill told me that when growing up in Wisconsin, his family ate a similar casserole, but his Mother called it Goulash.

Just so you know the difference, Goulash ( Hungarian: gulyás) is a soup or stew of meat, noodles and vegetables (especially potato), seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is also a popular meal in many countries including Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and others.

Here is my own version of the recipe.  I’m not sure where I originally found the recipe, but I have been making it since the late 1970’s to early 1980’s. 

 

Elizabeth’s Johnny Marzetti

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup chopped celery
1 can tomato sauce (more if desired)

2 can of diced tomatoes, (or 1 diced, one stewed) drain a little
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon chopped oregano
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Pinch of sea salt
Coarsely ground black pepper to season
2 – 8oz packages of Grated Cheddar, Italian or Mozzarella cheese
About 3 cups dried (or 12 - 14oz) macaroni noodles

 

Cook noodles; drain and set aside.

In a large skillet cook ground beef until mostly brown.  Add onion, garlic and celery; Cook until meat is done and vegetables are tender. Drain off grease.  Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
 

In a large bowl mix cooked noodles with meat mixture. Mix in 1 to 1 ½ packages of cheese.  I use both shredded cheddar and mozzarella mixed together.  And don’t be afraid to add more cheese, if like me, you love cheese!

Use butter to grease a 13 x 9 inch casserole dish.  Spread the meat noodle mixture into the casserole dish and then sprinkle the top with remaining cheese.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until lightly browned and bubbling.

Serve with a tossed salad and garlic bread.

 

 

My neighbor just had a baby and this is the casserole dish I took over.  It is a great comfort food, easy to double and perfect for parties, BBQ's, church suppers and potlucks.

 

Enjoy,

 

Elizabeth

Malabar Farm

It is nearly the end of the season in my region for Maple Syrup making.  But farther north the season is still going strong. 

About an hour and a half drive north from my location is the historical home and farm of Pulitzer prize winner author Louis Bromfield.  His home and the surrounding nearly 1000 acres is now a state park called Malabar Farm State Park, located in Lucas, Ohio.

I love to tour historical sites and if possible, like to tie it in with seasonal activities or a hobby I’m currently involved with, so the Malabar Farm State Park Maple Sugar Festival was perfect for me!  I have read a few of Louis Bromfield’s books and have for months looked forward to touring the farm.

Louis Bromfield, a dedicated conservationist, was originally from Mansfield, Ohio.  He returned to his home state in 1939 after living abroad for several years in France. 
Malabar Farm, in Pleasant Valley was Bromfield's dream. He built the house, restored the land and preserved the woodland. 
Bromfield has come to be recognized as a pioneer in organic farming.  He was awarded the Audubon Medal for Conservation in 1952 and in 1980, after his death, he was inducted into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame.


Four of Bromfield's works have been the basis for movies, including "When the Rains Came" and "Mrs Parkington".  Bromfield was also known for his many Hollywood friends, including James Cagney, Shirley Temple and Errol Flynn.  Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart were married at Malabar Farm.

 

The State acquired the farm and huge 32 room house in 1972.  You can tour the barns, pet the livestock, take a guided tour of the house, stroll along the pond, visit the pioneer graveyard, tent camp at the campground or stay in the Malabar Hostel.  There is also a smoke house, dairy barn, flower gardens, sawmill, springhouse, restaurant, hiking trails and log cabin.

Included in the Park is the Ceely Rose House, site of a triple murder in 1896. Ceely Rose poisoned her parents and brother to make way for a love interest.  It is rumored that the Rose home, Malabar Farm and the Pleasant Valley Cemetery are all haunted by Ceely's ghost!

We arrived early and once parked, there were horse drawn wagons to take visitors up to the sugar bush.  The weather was mild so we decided instead to walk the gravel road and enjoy the scenery.   

Along the way we passed a beautiful half frozen pond, saw many geese and ducks, and numerous metal sap buckets hanging from large old sugar maple trees.

Rounding a bend we came upon the sugar shack, which was surrounded in a cloud of steam.  The sugar festival had demonstrations on the methods used by American Indians to boil sap using birch bark containers and the pioneer method of using three cast iron pots. 

 

 

 

Because of the recent snow fall the walk back into the sugar bush was just beautiful.  Here we saw the modern method of sap collecting which involves “miles” of plastic tubes and hoses, all running down hill into a holding tank.

After spending half the day at the Sugar Festival we decided to tour Malabar, the house and barns.

The home is beautiful, and supposedly just as Bromfield left it when he passed away in the late 1950’s.  On tour you will see art work from Grandma Moses, Thurber plus many more and you can even view Bromfield’s Pulitzer.  One of my projects this year is building a greenhouse, so I was very envious of the one on the farm.

But what I was most excited about were the books.  Books and bookshelves were in every room, even built into coat closets. 
The Curator allowed us to pull a few books off the shelves and take a peak. 

Most were first additions, and many were signed from the giver to Bromfield.  Bromfield’s book collection is said to be around 4200 books, all of which you can reserve and read on the premises, by contacting the Ohio State University at Mansfield.

 

The living room area was also a favorite of mine.  The four sets of French doors, 2 on each side of the room, and large fireplace make the room striking.  The natural lighting is amazing and you can easily image a summer evening, relaxing with a book, the doors open wide to the sounds of the farm and the countryside. 

See more of my Malabar Farm photos on My Flickr Photostream.  

Another visit is in the works for late spring / early summer, camping, hiking and just enjoying the same sites and sounds a great Ohio writer also enjoyed.

Elizabeth 

  

“As soils are depleted, human health, vitality and intelligence go with them”

 

 

"For a man or woman to find that for themselves there is nothing so exciting or so satisfying or so beautiful as the earth and the seasons and rich green fields and fat cattle, the sound of foxes barking in the night and the raccoon's print in the snow". 

 

Supplies for Maple Syrup Making

Maple Syrup Making

(What I’ve learned so far)

I’m back tapping maple trees this year, having enjoyed last year’s process and syrup making so much that I decided to try it again. 

My previous posts, Sugaring or Tapping Maple Trees and Turning Maple Sap into Syrup details my first year tapping our farm's maple trees.

This is what I have learned so far:
 

Spiles (tree taps)
There are many types of spiles (tree taps) you can use.  Some are made of a thinner metal, (the ones I purchase from Tractor Supply last year) and some are made of a thicker and stronger material.  Most spiles have hooks for hanging buckets, but some also have a metal lip on top to hold the bucket handle or metal sap bag holders.

 

                  

 

 

 

 

 

I like the heavier spiles I purchased used from Slate Run Farm last year and the new ones I purchased this year from Anderson’s Maple Syrup, Inc.  Both of which are a heavy duty spile.  The thinner spiles seem to bend easily when tapped into the tree with a hammer. (see above left photo)

 

I have found the cost for the heavier spiles compared with the thinner metal spiles to be the same.

SAP BUCKETS:

Of buckets and sap collectors, the selection is endless! Here are a few I have tried.

Milk Cartons:
The cheapest method is a milk carton.  I have used these myself.  The benefit of using a milk carton is the price: zero, and the sap can be stored in them until you collect enough to boil.  Just screw on the cap and store in the refrigerator.

A draw back to using milk cartons are aesthetics, they just don’t “look” nice hanging from the maple tree.  That aside, the biggest problem is their weight.  Because they are made of lightweight plastic, they are easily blown around by the wind, away and off the spile, which causes a lost of precious sap.

Glass Canning Jar

These are not practical.  The jars fill up way too fast causing lost of precious sap and it's hard to pour the sap into the collection buckets.  Using a glass canning jar was purely for a photo opp on my part.  I just loved the look of it from the blog Chiot’s Run, so had to set the photo up for myself. 

Plastic Buckets:
I have also used inexpensive buckets, the 2 gallon mop bucket model from the Dollar Store.  These look much better than milk cartons, (mine were black) but the handles did not hold up under the weight of the sap.  I finally removed the handle and drilled a hole into the side of the bucket, a few inches below the rim and then used heavy wire to make a loop to hook the bucket to the spile. 
 

I also purchased heavier 2 gallon plastic buckets with lids from our local home improvement store.  I cut a hole into the lid to allow the sap to drip into the bucket.  These are working very well.  The cost including the lid is around $4.00 each.

5 gallon plastic buckets can also be used, but I worry about the weight of the sap pulling the spile out of the tree if not monitored closely.

Metal Buckets
My favorite is the traditional metal bucket.  They’re what I picture in my mind, in a Vermont Sugar Bush with red checked jackets, wood fires burning and pots boiling. 

But, they are probably the most expensive of the sap collectors.  A galvanized bucket runs anywhere form $10 to $15.00 each from our local home improvement store.  I have only one authentic sap bucket I picked up from a sale a few years back.  It makes for very nice sap collecting photos.

 

Metal Sap Sack Holder

These are a new method for me this year.  They hold heavy plastic bags and hang from the metal lip on the spile.  They are easy to use, and easy to pour the sap into collection buckets.  The only thing I do not like is the bright blue bags, but again it’s just the romantic side of me that longs for a picture perfect Sugar Bush.  They were inexpensive at $2.75 each for the metal sap holders (I purchased them used) and 25 cents each per new blue plastic sap bag. My daughter Alexis shared a video she found on YouTube of the O'Brien Family Maple Syrup Farm, using these metal holders and sap bags.

 
OTHER TOOLS

Hydrometer and Cup

The most valuable things I have added to my Maple Syrup making supplies is a syrup hydrometer and a hydrometer cup.  These have made it much simpler to determine when the sap is ready and when it has actually reached the consistency of syrup! The person who invented these was a genius!

I purchased both online from Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup, Inc. 

The hydrometer cup was $15.00 and the hydrometer was $26.00,
the most I have spent on any Maple Syrup supply so far.





Dehydrator or Boiling Containers
Last year I had two large round pots to boil down the sap.
This year I found a large square pan to use along with one of the round pots from last year.

The larger the surface area of the pot the faster the water will evaporate from the sap, cutting down on the time spent boiling.  Just switching to this new larger surface pan has noticeably cut down on my boiling time.
My goal is to have a large evaporator like this one, from Slate Run Historical Farm!

2013 Maple Sugaring is proving to be a good year, the sap is running well and the syrup is turning out a beautiful golden color.  I'm much better at it this year than last.   

And just this morning we had pancakes covered with my new syrup, yum.

Hope you have a wonderful sugaring season!

Elizabeth
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"He willed that there shall be growing forests in which there shall be certain trees from which sap shall habitually fall in its season.  So, too, let us give thanks because there still grows here and there maple trees, for we can look upon maple sugar".
~Address of thanksgiving to the Powers of the Master of Life (Green Corn Dance)


"I have never seen a reason why every farmer should not have a sugar orchard, as well as an apple orchard.  The supply of sugar for his family would require as little ground, and the process of making it as easy as cider".
~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to M. Lasteyrie, July 1808
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Seed Storage Container

Organizing Seed Storage

This is an simp;e way to organize and store seeds, and makes it easy to inventory the seeds you have on hand.  

 

What you’ll need:

• 1 Plastic Storage Container (shoebox size)
• Card Stock or Index Cards
• Scissors
• Seed Packets

Cut a tab area in each card, cutting a right tab, a middle tab and a left tab. 
This will make it easier to view each tab once complete. 

Hand write seed categories on each tab. 

I have terrible handwriting, so I use Word Document.  I type the labels, use format to add a border to each label, and then print.  

 

After cutting the labels out, just glue them to the index cards in the tab area.

I grouped seeds together under one tab or label.

 Label examples:

• Lettuce:  includes lettuce, spinach, endive, etc.

• Beans:  includes dry, bush, pole, etc.

• Melons:  includes watermelon, honey dew, cantaloupe, etc.

• Squash:  includes zucchini, summer, acorn, etc.

I also file them in alphabetical order.  Depending on your garden size and amount of seeds you have, use one plastic container for all your seeds, or separate into multiple containers by type.

Example of Containers:

• Herb seeds
• Vegetable seeds
• Flower seeds
• Non-edible plant seeds, like gourds and pumpkins.

Storage:

Store the seeds in a cold dry area, in the refrigerator or in the freezer.
I keep mine in our cold storage, which is around 45 to 60 degrees year round.  Cool, dark and dry are what you need for long term seed storage.

Seed Storage Tips:

• Vegetable and flower seeds may be kept for one year without much decrease in germination.
• Storage can be extended up to 10 years under proper conditions.
• Seed moisture and storage temperature are the most important factors in storing seeds.
• The drier the seeds, the longer they last.

I am saving more and more of my own seeds each year. 
I even gave out little packets of my seeds at Christmas. 

Last year I used small envelopes cut in half and folded for seed packets, but here are great examples of little seed packet template you can print that I will be using this year. 





One from the blog Gardens Ablaze:

 

And another from the blog Family Home and Life:

 



 Spring is right around the corner,

 

Elizabeth

 

More Info on Seed Storage:

Long Term Seed Storage

 

Vegetable Seed Saving Handbook

Basic Seed Saving