This isn't fancy but it's my comfort food. My family has been making this and calling it macaroni since before I was born. It's a super simple recipe that I cook mostly in the winter. Across the Midwest US this is known as (American) Goulash.
I start with 1 Kg (2 lb) ground beef, a large onion, 600 g (4 cups) of macaroni elbows (or other unit pasta), two 798 ml (27 oz?) cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, dry basil, dry oregano, garlic powder, salt, and the secret ingredient, ketchup.
I dice up the onion, heat up a deep frying pan, add a bunch of butter (30 ml, 2 T), and toss in the onions frying them until they start to caramelize. Then I add in the ground beef and fry it until there is no more visible red and I think it's mostly cooked. Next I add in all of the diced/crushed tomatoes, a palm full (seriously, that's how I do it...maybe between 15 ml and 30 ml (1T and 2T) each of dry basil and dry oregano, around 5 ml (1 t) of garlic powder, and around 10 ml (2 t) of salt. Finally, I add a good squirt of ketchup (maybe...250 ml, 1 c). I stir it up, bring it to a simmer, and turn the heat down to hold the simmer.
Next, I boil the elbows until they are al dente. When the elbows are ready I drain them and shake the colander to get rid of as much water as possible then dump the elbows into the sauce and mix. From there it goes straight into bowls.
Between you and me, I think it's actually better the next day fried in a frying pan with butter but that's just me...and my father...and my son.
Damn, that looks delicious! Would goulash be categorized as a kind of pasta? It seems to be of Hungarian origin though
This is just macaroni. They call it goulash in Michigan and other states. It is different than Hungarian goulash. I just call it goulash because one of my coworkers told me that it was goulash. My family calls is macaroni.
That's why my mom called it goulash! Those ~~Michiganders~~ midwesterners. I was confused when I saw what proper/original goulash was.
I had never heard it called anything but macaroni until my coworker from Michigan called it that. I thought it was funny and adopted it. That may be how it spread.
Adding pasta to goulash isn't unheard of. Usually, you eat it with bread but pasta makes a decent substitute or change to it. I would never go so far as to call goulash a pasta dish. The amount of pasta used in OP's picture is also more than I would say is common. And pasta doesn't work with every type of goulash either. There are many different kinds of goulash.
But as OP has said the dish isn't a traditional goulash. It's missing the key ingredient paprika. Basil and oregano aren't spices commonly found in goulash (EDIT: Oregano probably is fine since marjoram is more commonly found and they are very similar). And I also haven't seen ground beef being used. These are what make me think this isn't a goulash, not the pasta.