Casserole Fridays
I was tickled reading Leslie Kelly's post just a few weeks ago about food trends for 2010. Just as she suggests, "everything old-fashioned is really new again," from fried chicken to macaroni and cheese to hot dish casseroles.
My friends Zachary and Clark, always ahead of the curve, have been making hot dish casseroles once a week for the past two years. It's no surprise that casseroles are catching on. They're quick and easy, not to mention inexpensive to make. And while they feed a crowd, (more potlucks is a 2010 Epicurious trend), they're great for lunch the next day and then some.
Here's Clark's take on the hot dish casserole:
Friday dinners at our home in Vermont are reserved for one thing--casseroles. We instituted "Casserole Fridays" out of pure nostalgia. For every bad mystery casserole of our youth, there was another such creation that was simply and utterly delicious. Our quest is to try to find and recreate those marvelous one-dish meals.
This recipe for California Casserole was recommended by our friend Bobbi Davis, who knows a thing or two about casseroles. It comes from The New York Times Heritage Cookbook, published in 1972, and is filled with recipes submitted by amateur cooks around the country. This particular dish was contributed anonymously from northern California. We've adapted it a bit, but it's a darn fine casserole, well worth making some evening. And remember one thing about all good casseroles--they're even better as leftovers.
Do you have a favorite family casserole? A classic from the 1950s? A Campbell's Soup creation? If you share it with us, we'll give it a try. Stay tuned for next week's "Casserole Friday"!
California Casserole
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 yellow or red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 can (16 ounces) chopped tomatoes
1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans
3/4 cup uncooked white rice
1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; butter a round 9-inch glass casserole dish.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat; add meat, season with salt and pepper, cook until no red is left. Add garlic, onion, pepper, chili powder, salt, and pepper and cook 5 minutes, or until onion is wilted. Add Worcestershire, tomatoes (with liquid), beans (with liquid), and rice. Turn out into baking dish; bake uncovered for 45 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, sprinkle with olives and cheese, and bake 20 more minutes. Serve with sour cream.
Serves 6-8
The New York Times Heritage Cookbook, Jean Hewitt, Putnam, 1972
--Tracy Schneider
vitamin b1 on January 12, 2010 at 01:52 AM
Hello
This is a good recipe of California Casserole.I have not tried it before but I would like to taste it as I always try new and different recipes.Thank you very much for this good recipe.
Snabb mat on January 21, 2010 at 07:43 AM
nice..lokks good recipe....I will try it..Thanks for posting
Ken on January 22, 2010 at 04:42 AM
California Casserole (this exact recipe, in fact, since I've owned the New New York Times Cookbook [not a typo]for about 30 years...) has been a family favorite since my kids we able to eat solid food. It's kind of dropped out of the rotation recently, but you've reminded me to get it back on the menu. Maybe next week!
ChasMartel on January 23, 2010 at 01:44 PM
I tried this and find it to be very good. I have one issue with the recipe as published. I used regular, uncooked brown rice and it took 2.5 hours of cooking time to get the rice soft. I also turned the oven up to 400 degrees for about 40 minutes during the cook. Next time I will use a quick cooking rice. That should bring the cooking time in line with that suggested in the recipe as published.
Next time I will also add smoked paprika and red pepper flakes to this recipe. That is purely a matter of taste, however, and is not meant to be critical of this recipe.
Tracy Schneider on January 24, 2010 at 12:42 AM
Thanks, vitamin b1 and Snabb mat. This casserole is a classic, and I hope you will give it a try.
Ken, so glad to hear that California Casserole has been a tradition in your family. I bet everyone will be thrilled to see it back in the rotation.
ChasMartel, I should have stipulated white rice for this particular recipe, and will make the correction so no other readers have the same experience you had. So sorry! In general, brown rice takes longer to cook and needs more liquid than plain white rice. Pre-soaking the brown rice overnight should speed up the process. Your version, by the way, with the smoked paprika and the red pepper flakes sounds terrific!