They have always gotten frowned upon.
Many think this is for the novice in the kitchen and I thought so too, which is why I had never tried to make one.
You cannot impress any one with a casserole, come on!
As a matter of fact, I have not eaten any kind of casserole in more than a decade because of the stigma that comes with making one of those kinds of foods.
On the other hand, I have always tried to introduce new foods to my kids, so they know what kind of variety is available in the country of their father's birth. They get mac and cheese, patty melts, omelettes, brownies, corned beef, turkey for Thanksgiving and so on, but I had somehow skipped over casseroles somehow. Strange.
I had no trouble fabricating a recipe in my head. It is just noodles and stuff that needs no cooking, cooked in an oven, right?
Right!
My on the fly recipe for today's casserole is macaroni and meat, boiled and browned, respectively. Combine in a large bowl. Add half cup of curry sauce, half cup of garlic dressing, half cup of Gouda cheese, and a half cup of cream cheese to the mix. If it is too sticky, you can add some milk to get it to mix well.
The hot noodles and meat will help melt the cheese.
Add chopped onion and garlic to taste, I used a half onion and three cloves. I also used a can of sliced mushrooms.
Scoop it all into glass oven-ware but don't put the lid on it yet. We want to put shoe string potatoes or crushed potato chips on top like a blanket. Then add your favorite cheese on top of the crispy spuds. We used two kinds of cheddar on ours. Anything that melts and/or browns in the oven is divine!
I am not sure what they put in the classic tuna casserole that used to make me die of blandness, but what I just described to you is fantastic.
It is hard to kill old negative feelings for a meal when it was overdone during childhood. I am back to loving casseroles. It is more the cook than the meal itself.
