Joy, you beat me to it -- I was just about to recommend Bake Until Bubbly to LAZ. It's one of my favorite cookbooks. Mine is much used, much thumbed, and much marked with Post-Its. I've made several dishes from it and have many more lined up in the queue to try.

Casseroles and crockpot dishes are definitely two different genres for me, the former being thicker and with some surface crunch potential, the latter being nearly always a soupy/stewy consistency.

Tetrazzini is the most requested casserole in my house. I make it, with turkey or chicken, about once a month. Lasagna, too, if we can put that in the casserole family.

I am a big fan of shepherd's pie and cottage pie, but Mister Picky Eater is (inexplicably, to my mind) put off by the whole mashed-potatoes-on-top thing. Simple solution: serve it in a bowl with mashed potatoes scraped off to the side. Similarly, with one of the classics of my childhood, chicken a la king: my mom made it with biscuits on top. He thinks that's wierd. Simple solution: cook biscuits separately, serve on the side. Now, you may be thinking, those aren't casseroles any more. Don't get picky with me. I get enough of that from Mister Mister.

Mister Picky Eater is not as open-minded about casseroles (or for that matter, crockpot dishes) as I am, so I often have to introduce new casserole/crock menu offerings in a very low-key, under-the-radar, side-dish-to-something-else, stealthy fashion. In much the same ways as one tricks children into eating vegetables. Sigh...

How not to make too much casserole? Scale the recipe down for a square 8 x 8 glass dish. That doesn't work with tetrazzini, however; there will be complaints that I didn't make enough. It's a good point, though, that a lot of casserole recipes are for too many servings; perhaps that comes from them having been popular as a way to feed a large family inexpensively. That's the environment I grew up in. Now that I'm cooking for just two, I see casseroles as a way to set up future dinners: make the whole batch, and freeze half for another night.

Katie,

Tell me about your chicken à la king (with biscuits on *top*!). I have such dear childhood memories of the lunch ladies making this, that I'm always searching to duplicate those flavors and, most importantly, textures.

Geo

Chicken a la king is a perennial fave here and I happily make a batch and just have it for multiple meals. My mom never baked it with biscuits but served with rice (always uncle bens converted) or over toast or biscuits (Bays english muffins are ideal).

Our family recipe:

4-6 chicken breast halves with bones & skin
1- 2 green peppers chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
1large onion chopped
Salt & pepper
Mace - essential! 1tsp but heaping tsp and maybe more
Tarragon 1tsp or so
7 tbs flour
7tbs butter
1cup evaporated milk

Poach chicken and vegetables in water - when chicken is tender, remove
Remove vegs to a bowl
Reserve 2 cups resulting broth
Shred or chop white meat from chicken add to reserved cooked vegs

In original pot, melt butter, stir in flour and whisk
Add evaporated milk and continue to whisk over low heat until roux thickens
Add mace and tarragon
Stir in broth - stir until sauce thickens and s smooth

When the sauce is thickened, stir in chicken and veg and heat through. (watch out for liquid in vegs that can water down sauce - I use a slotted spoon to stir them in.)

I overdo the mace but it is the essential flavor that makes the dish. Then again, so does the evaporated milk! My mother at one time used to add canned sliced mushrooms cooked in butter and/or drained sliced pimentos but those were additions for company. I was once served this in little puff pastry cups by a lady my mom's age - tasty but we always went a bit more hearty.

Above from memory, let me know if something looks off ...

I ate a lot of chicken tetrazzini and tuna noodle casserole as a kid and always hated them. The one casserole my mom made that I liked has chicken divan which had rice, broccoli spears (frozen of course) and some sort of cream of whatever soup. I am planning on a casserole today, kind of my spin on gluten free lasagna, using eggplant instead of pasta, also with mushrooms and spinach. As much as I like to pooh pooh a lot of the food I grew up on, I do have a soft spot for my mom's round steak simmered with Cambell's cream of mushroom soup and served with mashed potatoes. I also like her stuffed cabbage and have never made it myself. I might try it as a layered casserole as mentioned by Binko.

In my house we love casseroles. We appreciate leftovers. If we didn't eat leftovers, we would go hungry because there is not time (or inclination) to cook something new everyday. So we make big casseroles even though there are only two of us. It does not take that much more work to make a big casserole, they usually reheat well, and sometimes they taste good cold.

Tonight we had broccoli casserole. I know that LAZ asked for quick and easy, just "dump stuff in" recipes. If you are so inclined, you could make the following recipe simpler by substituting canned cream of mushroom soup for the first part of the recipe. (I don't use canned in order to avoid the sodium.)

Broccoli Casserole
adapted from http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/reci ... ole-102381

Ingredients

2 tbsp. butter
8 to 16 oz. package fresh sliced button mushrooms (depending on how many mushrooms you want)
1 cup diced onions
1 or 2 tbsp. flour
½ cup skim milk
½ cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp. salt, to taste
1/4 tsp. pepper, to taste
other seasonings, to taste (I used 1 tsp. Penzey’s Bavarian)
5 cups blanched broccoli
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup plain yogurt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ to 1 cup breadcrumbs

Preparation

In a large and deep skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and brown the mushrooms and onions. Remove the mushrooms and onions and set aside. Leave as much melted butter in the skillet as you can. Make a roux by adding flour to the skillet and cooking it in the remaining butter until it is nicely browned and becomes as thick as peanut butter - add more butter if needed. Mix together the milk and the broth and heat slightly in microwave. Whisk in small amounts of the milk and the broth, adding more as it is absorbed by the flour mixture, and bring to a slow bubble, whisking all the while, until it gets to the consistency of a thick sauce. Mix the mushrooms and onions back in along with seasonings. Turn off the heat. This is your "cream of mushroom soup". Or you can skip all of this and just substitute 2 cans of soup.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.

Blanch the broccoli. Add it to the mushroom mixture in the skillet, and mix well.

In a large measuring cup, combine mayonnaise, yogurt and eggs. Mix well. Add to the broccoli and mushroom mixture. Combine and pour into the baking dish. Top evenly with bread crumbs. Bake for 45 minutes or until set and browned.

OPTIONAL: You can add other things to this casserole depending on what you have on hand. For example, if I have it, I'll add 1 cup diced red pepper to the skillet with the onions. You could add 1 cup shredded cheese to the mayo, yogurt and egg mixture.

Sounds similar to my mom's chicken divan - I did like that. I love leftovers too, but would rather have soup or a pot roast or some other type of roast. Yesterday I did make a big pan of eggplant, spinach, italian sausage tomato sauce cheesy thing that I will eat for the next several days. I don't mind putting in the work of chopping and sauteeing since I do get the leftovers. I didn't have to saute the eggplant, just baked slices long enough to soften a bit.

I will try to look up the recipe. I loosely follow one but made some changes to it.

Here is the recipe I have adapted. this is my own version but you have to use judgement. It should not be too wet or too dry....adjust seasonings to taste.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup cooked rice
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
dash of tobasco
sprinkle of garlic powder and black pepper
sesame seed oil to taste maybe a half of tsp.
can of chinese vegetables mixed or small can of waterchestnuts
5 ounces chow mein noodles

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute the ground beef for 5 minutes. Add the onion and celery and saute for 5 more minutes. add the drained chinese vegetables. Its at least important to have water chestnuts for crunch. The mixed vegetables usually include bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and bean sprouts. some times you have to get the small individual cans. Be careful you do not add too much vegetation. If it seems too much I put the extra vegetables in a plastic container and I freeze them for next time.
3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the rice, soup, water and soy sauce and sesame seed oil and other seasonings. Mix together well and add to the beef mixture. Place this into a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Top with chow mein noodles. Note: I like to put part of the chow mein noodles like a handful, stirred into the casserole itself.
The rest I put on top. Other additional topping ideas is to also mix with the chow mein topping sliced almonds or durkee french fried onions. Tip: I spray the top of it with spray margarine to get a crunch.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes or till top browns a little.

Leftovers can be heated up or I cut into squares and put in freezer containers to freeze and take out for a quick supper or lunch.

PS one thing I really like about this is it does not have dairy in it. so many casseroles are cheesy and creamy which i love but it does not love me. so this one is good without the dairy overload.

Toria, thanks for the chow mein casserole recipe! And thnks also to Siun for the chicken ala king and to mrsm for the broccoli casserole and to leek, Binko and all. We'll try all of these. It's a long winter! --Joy

Growing up in Minnesota, I remember many casseroles. One of the few I liked (Whitehouse casserole) involved leftover turkey pieces spread over broccoli (Mom used frozen). She then spread a combination cream soups (chicken and cream of broccoli??) can't remember, just know it was two cans. Hellman's mayo and some curry powder over the top. This concoction was then sprinkled with corn meal, shredded Parmesan cheese and dotted with butter.

Khaopaat wrote:It may not be particularly fancy or groundbreaking, but Alton Brown's shepherd's pie recipe has always proven to be a big hit, in my experience. The only minor modifications I usually make is I sub whole pearl onions for the chopped onions (I dunno, when I imagine hearty English or Irish stews, I always picture pearl onions being involved), and I add a liberal dose of the Spice House hot curry powder to the almost-done beef & veg mixture.

I made this recently and loved it. I used ground lamb, and added some diced rutabaga and finely chopped chard. it came together more quickly than I thought it would and was very good tasting.

Hi,

Straight from Midwest Living: Chicken Casseroles.

I believe I saw Cook's Illustrated offering a book on casseroles, too.

Regards,

I can think of a couple off hand. The first is known as "Granny Smith Breakfast." I cannot find a recipe for it on line but I did post to another forum with (search for "Reconnecting with Granny Smith" if you want to see the thread.)

In the text I cut and pasted below, 'DO' stands for dutch Oven. The recipe is from memory so I don;t think it violates LTH policy on posting recipes.

I made a reduced recipe since I was working with my 8" DO. I used:
[list=]
[*]4-5 peeled, cored and chunked Granny Smith apples (Didn't quite use all 5.)
[*]3/4 of a 1lb package of Savory Sage breakfast sausage.
[*]5 slices of Oat Nut bread cut into cubes
[*]6 eggs
[*]1/4 lb grated sharp Cheddar. We had medium Cheddar so I grated some Asiago into it for a lttle extra sharpness
[*]About a 1/2 TBSP nutmeg. (I couldn't find it so we went without, but it is a big component of the flavor.)
[/list]
Cook the sausage and drain any excess grease. I find that adding a couple ounces of water helps the sausage to soften and crumble as it cooks rather than winding up with large chunks.

Scramble the eggs and add the nutmeg. Mix in the bread and then add the sausage and apples. Put into the DO. This should fill it about 2/3 as it will grow a bit as it cooks. Spread the grated cheese on top and bake at 350 with the lid on. (That's how I did it this time because I didn't feel like going out in a 43° weather and starting coals. ) I think I probably baked it about an hour. I thought I'd have to take the lid off for the cheese to brown but that was not the case. The second time I checked it, the cheese was starting to brown so I took it out and declared it Done! (It was probably done at 45 minutes. )This is what it looked like:



The other one I really like is my wife's recipe for Pastel Azteca. My notes say:
===============
Layer [list=]
[*]chicken shredded or chunks
[*]cream sauce (half and half and sour cream)
[*]tortillas, quartered and dipped in warm chicken broth
[*]shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, Cheddar, etc.)
[*]salsa and stewed tomato ( Sautéed onion, green peppers and tomato – 14 oz can.)
[/list]
Total of about three layers of each. Leave room for foam topping.

Separate three eggs. Beat whites until fluffy with some salt and pepper and then blend in yolks. Spread over the top of the casserole.

Bake at 350° for one hour.
===============

Sorry for lack of detail, but I don't think exact quantities are important. But if you come close to what SWMBO makes it's one of my favorites.


Hmmm... the list thing seems not to be working for me.

I just wanted to encourage folks who shy away from the Cream Of Whatever soups... you can do a thick bechamel-type sauce to substitute for the canned glop, and because you are using fresh butter and veggies, it's so much more flavorful. You'll also have more control over things like how much salt is in the final product. Just saute your mushrooms or celery in a bunch of butter, toss in a couple tablespoons of flour until it's brown and fragrant, then whisk in some cream or milk and simmer til thick. There's your Cream Of Whatever, and you're good to go!

good point. I try to do this when I have time.