This is a second way to utilize leftovers from a roast beef.  The night of a roast dinner, after we are finished eating and before the dishes, I get a pasta pot boiling to make some egg noodles.  To boil the noodles and assemble the casserole start to finish, takes less than half an hour and baaaam! you have made another dinner for later that week, or to freeze for next week.

My mom’s original recipe had a can of Cambell’s cream of mushroom soup included, which I thought was “her trick”. Then the other day when I was watching ‘The Chew’ (a favorite daytime show I Tivo) and Michael Simon was joking about how every casserole has to have cream of mushroom soup!  I guess it wasn’t only my mom, so funny.  This is my version, sans canned soup, but if you want to go authentic add half a can, just make sure and watch the added salt since canned soups are packed with sodium.  Being that this recipe is specifically to use leftovers, I can’t provide exact measurements, it will work with what you have, the proportions are 1 part gravy, 1 part mushrooms, 2 parts small pieces roast beef and 4 parts noodles with about a cup of whole milk and seasoning to taste.

Ingredients

Leftover roast beef (1/2 cup – 1 cup)

Whatever gravy you have leftover

Chop up the onions that were in the gravy and add them for some sweet tasty surprise (or carmelize a couple of chopped shallots in butter, and add those, beef and onions are perfect together)

cleaned and sliced mushrooms (about half cup)

1 bag of egg noodles (they are a bit curly, that is where the name “wiggle” comes from)

1 cup whole milk

Dried thyme (about half a teaspoon)

Salt and pepper to taste (I don’t add seasoning but maybe 1 tsp salt  if I have a lot of gravy in there, since that adds tons of flavor)

Handful of baby sweet peas (frozen is fine)

1 cup shredded gruyere or Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

Add all ingredients (except for the cheese and breadcrumbs) into a large corning ware dish or Dutch oven and stir.  If it seems too dry, add a bit more milk.  Top the casserole with the breadcrumbs, then the cheese.

Cook for 30-40 minutes with a lid, then remove the lid for another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.  If you are not sure if it is finished, touch the middle of the top of the casserole and make sure it is warm, and look for some bubbling around the edges as well.

You can also cover the uncooked casserole tightly with clear wrap and stick it in the fridge for a meal a day or two later, or stick in the freezer for up to a few weeks.  If freezing, just bring it down to thaw in the fridge for 2 days, and then cook to the instructions above.

Great served with some string beans almondine or roast off some carrots and parsnips win the oven hile the wiggle is cooking