Arsip Tag: casserole

cabbage and sausage casserole – smitten kitchen

Dipublikasi pada Desember 8, 2023 oleh pbnbigesdi

Let me get the obvious out of the way: you are not going to win friends, neighbors with whom you share airspace or small children over with cabbage casserole. It’s beige and gray with traces of drab green. It’s cooked forever, or until whatever vim and vigor may have initially been in the leaves has departed. At best, it’s akin to unstuffed cabbage, which means that it will be comfort food to some but torture to others.


a very large amount of cabbage
chop, chop

However, if you are of the sort that has not yet been deterred (as you can see, I did my best), I have exactly the right thing for us to fill ourselves with on this face-freezing week of January* This preparation comes from the late, great English food writer Jane Grigson, whose writing and recipes I enjoyed long before I learned that she shares my disdain for beets —

par-cook cabbage

We do not seem to have had much success with the beetroot in this country. Perhaps this is partly the beetroot’s fault. It is not an inspiring vegetable, unless you have a medieval passion for highly coloured food. With all that purple juice bleeding out at the tiniest opportunity, a cook may reasonably feel that beetroot has taken over the kitchen and is far too bossy a vegetable.

— but, I won’t lie, even more so since. It’s in this same book, her Vegetable book, that she writes about Stuffed Cabbage in the Trôo Style, one of the — because I want you to be aptly warned of exactly what you are dealing with here — five stuffed cabbage recipes in the chapter. She speaks of visiting her neighbor who was making chou farci for her grandaughters that were coming to supper and being surprised when she peered under the lid not to find a big round stuffed cabbage but a flat layer of leaves. Madame Glon, the neighbor, insisted that this “quick” method was just as good as the classic one (a whole cabbage, stuffed) and made a convert out of Grigson.

parchment under foil

Grigson then, in the year 1978, answers several questions I anticipate internet commenters to ask in the year 2016, saying that she’s made it with various spicy and aromatic additions such as tomatoes, bits of bacon, herbs and so on, but has rejected them in favor of the “Trôo simplicity cabbage, good sausagemeat and butter,” which I — a dweller of the Lower East Side of Manhattan some 3600 miles away, where simplicity usually means limiting oneself to a single type of chile paste, imported sea salt and heirloom vegetable — hadn’t considered my dinner priorities until that exact second. As my year’s theme so far is seeing something good and making it as soon as humanly possible we had it for dinner that very night, heaped on thick slices of whole wheat sourdough slathered with coarse Dijon mustard and now you can count us among the converts not just to the dish, but the idea that there’s a time and place for unfancy, unpretty, unpopular food too.

before going back into the oven
cabbage and sausage casserole

* when the other three tabs open in my browser are, predictably: 1. out-of-my-budget arctic parkas, 2. clever new ways to add even more cheese, sour cream and butter to baked potatoes, and 3. a friend’s torturous beach vacation photos

Stuffed Cabbage, Previously: Russian-Style and Italian-Style

One year ago: Key Lime Pie and Fried Egg Salad
Two years ago: Chicken Pho and Pear and Hazelnut Muffins
Three years ago: Gnocchi in Tomato Broth and Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard and Garlic
Four years ago: Buckwheat Baby with Salted Caramel Syrup
Five years ago: Baked Potato Soup
Six years ago: Poppy Seed Lemon Cake and Black Bean Soup with Toasted Cumin Seed Crema
Seven years ago: Almond Vanilla Rice Pudding and Light Wheat Bread
Eight years ago: Pickled Carrot Sticks
Nine years ago: Artichoke Ravioli with Tomatoes and Cauliflower and Brussels Salad

And for the other side of the world:
Six Months Ago: Look What Else We Baked! 🙂
1.5 Years Ago: Easiest Fridge Dill Pickles and Grilled Peach Splits
2.5 Years Ago: One-Pan Farro with Tomatoes
3.5 Years Ago: Peach Pie
4.5 Years Ago: Whole Wheat Raspberry and Ricotta Scones

Cabbage and Sausage Casserole
Adapted from Jane Grigson, by way of Tamasin Day-Lewis, by way of The New York Times

A few notes: I found the Day-Lewis yield take on recipe to be almost impossible to work with (you’ll need two giant pots to blanche 4 pounds cabbage, and at least 2 lasagna pans to bake it) so I halved it. A few NYT commenters said they found it easier to pour a kettle or two of boiling water over the cabbage in a colander rather than boiling it in a pot of water, but I did not, mostly because there was so much cabbage and my kettle is tiny. And while the ideas you can springboard off the recipe are almost countless — brats and red cabbage, a heap of spices, more vegetables — there’s a lot to be said about a 4-ingredient dish that will keep you warm for a long time. Just don’t skimp on the seasoning. Salt and pepper, confidently applied, will keep this dish from falling asleep.

Serves 6 to 8

Salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound fresh sweet Italian pork sausages or bulk sausage meat
1 large green or Savoy cabbage (2 pounds), cored and thickly shredded
Freshly ground black pepper
Crusty bread and coarse mustard, for serving

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking dish. If using sausages, remove casings and discard them.

Place cabbage in boiling water, cover, and let water come back to the boil. Uncover and boil for 3 minutes. Drain cabbage in a colander and run cold water over it to stop cooking. Drain well.

Put about 1/3 of the cabbage in buttered dish and cover with 1/2 the meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dot with butter. Repeat, ending with a final layer of cabbage, and dot top with butter.

Cover dish tightly with a layer of parchment paper (commenters who skipped the parchment said that their vegetables discolored against the foil), then top with a lid or a layer of aluminum foil. Cook for about 2 1/2 hours, until cabbage is soft and sweet, and top is lightly browned. After 2 hours, uncover the dish; if there is a lot of liquid in the bottom, leave uncovered for the rest of the cooking time. If not, re-cover and finish cooking. In our case, there was not a lot of liquid but I hoped to get a little color on the top so left it uncovered for the remaining time.

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chilaquiles brunch casserole – smitten kitchen

Dipublikasi pada November 25, 2023 oleh pbnbigesdi

Could you add sauteed vegetables or bits of crispy bacon or chorizo to the layers before baking it? Of course you could. Could you use a high-quality tortilla chip instead of frying your own corn tortillas? I think you could. You’ll want to use 7.8 to 8 ounces of tortilla chips instead of what is listed below.

Red enchilada sauce (also known as salsa roja or salsa roja para enchiladas) is a tomato and chili sauce. Most readily available in a can in the U.S., which works fine here, it’s not hard to make at home at all. If you want to tackle a homemade version, here are a few leads (this last one has the fewest, and probably easiest to get, ingredients). I made one from garlic, onion, dried chiles (all ancho/passila, in an attempt at mildness), broth, and some oregano, cooking and blending them and the end result was absolutely delicious but way too hot for my kids to eat, and since I didn’t want them to throw their dinner in the garbage and cry, I then used the canned stuff instead and we used the sauce as an extra condiment. C’est la vie.

  • 12 small (6-inch) corn tortillas, quartered and fried until crisp
  • 1 1/4 cups (from a 10-ounce can) red enchilada sauce [see Note]
  • 1 3/4 cups (from a 15-ounce can) black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) coarsely grated shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese (I used a mix)
  • 6 to 8 large eggs
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Thinly sliced scallions, sour cream, diced avocado, and hot sauce, to finish and serve
Heat oven to 375°F.

Coat a 3-quart baking dish (mine was 7.5-x-11.5 inches) with oil or a nonstick spray. Spread 1/4 of tortillas in bottom of dish. Drizzle/scatter with 1/4 (eyeballing it) of enchilada sauce, followed by black beans and cheese. Repeat 3 times. Bake for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and tortillas have softened a little. Remove from oven to a cooling rack (leaving oven on) and use a spoon or fork to push little nests into the tortillas where you’d like each egg to go (it won’t fully hold it, but will help them stay in place). Crack 6 to 8 eggs into them, however many you’d like to use, season the eggs with salt and pepper and return casserole to the oven until the whites of the eggs are opaque but not fully set.

[“What? Deb, that’s gross!” you’re thinking right now but trust me, I’ve made dozens of baked egg casseroles and they all end up with hard-cooked yolks. Letting the whites finish cooking in the residual heat is the only way to avoid it. If you take it out when the whites are set, the residual heat will solidify the yolks.]

Remove from oven and let rest on a rack for (about) 4 to 8 minutes, after which the whites should be fully set but the yolks still runny and serve with finishes of your choice.

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unstuffed mushroom casserole – smitten kitchen

Dipublikasi pada November 18, 2023 oleh pbnbigesdi

This is doubled from the original recipe and exactly as you see it here (filling a 2-quart baking dish) because the original makes way too little to share. You know that joke about spinach? It turns out white mushrooms reduce about 1/3 of their original volumes after cooking; don’t be disappointed.

Note: You can watch an Instagram Story demo of this recipe over here.

  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 pounds medium white button mushrooms, quartered
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces
  • 1 cup grated gruyere, comte, or cheddar etc.
  • 2 cups panko-style breadcrumbs
  • 1 cup grated parmesan
  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Heat your oven oven to 350°F.

In a large frying pan (12-inch is ideal here) over medium-high heat, heat half (3 tablespoons) of the olive oil. Once it’s very hot, add half (1.5 pounds, but seriously, just eyeball this) of your mushrooms but don’t move them yet. Give them 1 to 2 minutes to brown underneath before adding 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and half the garlic, then moving them around, trying to get them to brown on more sides until they begin releasing their liquid. Some have a little, some have a lot; in both cases you can to cook the mushrooms, stirring, until the liquid mostly, but not fully, cooks off — a thin puddle should remain. Scrape these mushrooms into a large bowl and repeat the process with the remaining olive oil, mushrooms, and garlic, plus more salt and pepper.

Once the second half of the mushrooms have mostly cooked off their liquid, add everything in the pan to the first half of mushrooms in the bowl. Add diced cream cheese and stir just until combined (the remaining liquid from the mushrooms should help it get saucy), then half of the panko (1 cup), all of the gruyere, half of the parmesan (1/2 cup), and most of the parsley (reserve some for garnish) and stir to combine. Transfer to a 2-quart baking dish.

Combine the butter and remaining panko (1 cup) and parmesan (1/2 cup) in a bowl with a couple pinches of salt. Sprinkle over top of the mushrooms and bake until the breadcrumbs are light golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and eat right away.

To make this ahead of time, please read: Since I’m usually making this to entertain and like to get things out of the way, I pause the recipe (in the fridge until needed, covered with foil) where you transfer the mixture to a baking dish. To finish cooking, I first get the mushroom mixture warm without the crumbs, leaving the foil on, about 10 minutes, and then bake it the rest of the way with the crumbs on, until they’re a light golden brown, usually another 25 minutes. If you put the crumbs on sooner, they get too dark. If you finish baking the dish with crumbs and later rewarm it, the mushrooms get a little overcooked and the crumbs too toasty.

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