Casseroles for quick cooking
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Casseroles are so useful. You can feed a whole bunch of people. You can use up bits and pieces from the pantry. You can make them light or heavy, spicy or regular.
“Casserole” actually refers to the dish you use to make one in — a large, deep pot or dish used both in the oven and as a serving dish, usually made of glass or earthenware. It has come to also include the types of things you cook in a casserole dish, often a “one pot” meal.
Remember that strata from last week? You can use that technique to make just about anything that goes well with tortillas and eggs. You could layer in eggplant and tomatoes, squash and Canadian bacon, mixed mushrooms with Italian sausage and green beans — the possibilities are endless.
Pasta is another great vehicle for building a casserole, and I’m not just talking about lasagna. Manicotti (sheets of pasta you roll up like a crepe), cannelloni (big, long tubes), tufoli (big, short tubes) and conchiglioni (a sea shell, a “conch”) are all very useful in making casseroles. They help hold things together so you can use less cheese, egg or other binder.
This recipe is the “quick and dirty” kind. You can certainly opt to make your own spaghetti sauce and use fresh garlic and herbs. And any decent Italian cheese combination would make it even tastier.
CHICKEN CANNELLONI
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
28 oz. jar spaghetti tomato sauce
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast tenders
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
14 cannelloni shells, uncooked
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté the onion in olive oil in a saucepan until tender. Add sauce and simmer five minutes.
Pour a third of the spaghetti sauce mixture in a large casserole. Sprinkle the chicken tenders with garlic salt and Italian seasoning and stuff them into the cannellonis, using more than one to fill each shell if needed. Using the tenders makes this very easy, but ground meat or meat chunks work, too.
Place the stuffed cannelloni in the baking dish. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce over the pasta, making sure to coat pasta completely. You can use a little water or wine to rinse the jar clean and get all the sauce out.
Cover with mozzarella cheese. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 80 to 90 minutes, until the pasta is tender when pierced with a fork. Serve with freshly baked garlic bread.
VVV
Have you ever had a casserole where you weren’t quite sure what was in it? This meatball casserole will leave no doubt, with its larger, easily identifiable chunks. Frozen meatballs make things go faster, or you can cut up an Italian sausage link into 1- or 1 1/2-inch pieces.
MEATBALL CASSEROLE
1 lb. meatballs, precooked
1 large green bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 large onion, cut into chunks
2 tsp. garlic, minced (to taste)
2-3 Roma tomatoes, thickly sliced
2 cups prepared pasta sauce
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything except cheeses in a 2-quart glass baking dish and stir well to combine. Top with the cheeses and bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling and cheese is melted. Yum!
VVV
A casserole doesn’t have to have cheese, though. If you’re watching your fat intake or trying to pinch a few pennies (cheese ain’t cheap!) try this recipe.
BEEF, BEAN AND
CORNBREAD CASSEROLE
1 lb. ground round
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
16 oz. tomato sauce
2 (16 oz.) cans of pinto beans (or bean of choice)
1 (4.5 oz.) of chopped green chiles, undrained
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 pkg. cornbread mix, prepared
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sauté first three ingredients until beef is done and onion tender. Drain well. Combine beef with remaining ingredients except cornbread mixture. Pour into a 2-quart dish.
Prepare cornbread according to package directions (add 1 cup grated sharp cheddar to batter, if you like) and pour over beef. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
VVV
Perhaps you just had “the” green bean casserole for Easter brunch? Or maybe you did something with sweet potatoes? They’re not just for Thanksgiving anymore, and I’ve seen some excellent prices on them lately.
SAUSAGE AND SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
6 sweet potatoes, baked
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 lemon, juiced, zested
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup pecans, well chopped
1 lb. ground sausage or sausage patties, cooked
Scoop the sweet potato pulp out of the skins and into a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon. Spoon into a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with pecans. Top with sausage (the patties make serving sizes easier). Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, or until hot and serve with some buttermilk biscuits.
VVV
It doesn’t get much simpler than this next recipe. The creaminess of the soup and milk help compensate for the lack of cheese. Dress this one up by adding diced celery, diced carrots or maybe some broccoli flowerets.
SIMPLE CHICKEN
CASSEROLE
1 box stuffing mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 can milk
1 can (9.75 oz) chunk chicken
Mix everything together and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. That’s it!
VVV
Here is a nice southern-style recipe. You can use shrimp if you prefer, and adjust the pepper to your taste.
CRAWFISH CASSEROLE
1 lb. crawfish tails
1 can cream of onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup rice, cooked
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Dash of cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to official casserole temperature (350 degrees). Mix everything in a casserole dish, cover, and bake for one hour. This rich dish really benefits from a green salad with crunchy red onion on top.
VVV
It’s grilled things next week! The season is upon us. May Day is coming, too, and although a May Day basket usually consists of flowers, a few tiny treats would not be amiss. Do you have a lovely, easy idea to spruce up your May Day baskets?
Send it in to me at 517 Merchant St. or murphysmenu@yahoo.com. Let’s get cooking!