browngirl: (chocolate)
browngirl ([personal profile] browngirl) wrote2008-06-01 09:31 am

Casserole Suggestions Needed

At the school where I work we have all be taking turns cooking for a family who is having Difficulties. I signed up to do this in a couple weeks. (The restrictions: no liver, no goat cheese, nothing raw.)

From helping coordinate the food I noticed that they have gotten lots of lasagne, so if I can I'd rather make something else. I have chicken in the freezer, so a tasty idea that would let me use that would be good, too.

So, any ideas? Thank you in advance!

[personal profile] papervolcano 2008-06-01 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
That's such a nice thing to do :)

I'm presuming things like a mild chicken korma aren't suitable? Or some sort of mash-topped pie (Shepherds/Cottage/Fisherman's...)? I don't have any chicken recipes, being veggie, but this is nice and adaptable, and also one of my all-time favourite comfort foods. It's a bit calorific and Northern-European-Winter, but you may find it suitable.

Scalable by the size of dish/number of people you want to feed - quantities are per person, I usually do for four.

5 small waxy potatoes (floury potatoes would likely disintegrate)
little bit of oil
stock
sage (optional, but nice)

other stuff: I add about a handful of sweetcorn and 1 small onion per person. Other suggestions would be nicely meaty mushrooms, a couple of rashers of bacon per person, or a sausage.

Preheat the oven to 180*C

Wash the potatoes, and peel them if you feel like it. Slice them (and here my instructions read "no thicker than a pound coin" - call it about 5 mm or a couple of quarters stacked?)
Fry the potatoes until they're slightly coloured on each side. Tip out onto kitchen paper to blot.

Generously butter a shallow baking dish/roasting tin. I'd guesstimate that the bacon should be cut to about the size of a postage stamp, while I'd keep mushroom or sausage chunks chunky. Layer the potatoes in the dish, scattering your stuff, sage, salt and pepper as you go. Dot the surface with a couple of knobs of butter, and pour over enough stock to cover.
Bake for about an hour, until the potatoes are soft enough to squish.

To reheat, just microwave for 3-4 minutes, or shove in the oven for 15.

[identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com 2008-06-03 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
OK, I think I'm snagging this recipe for myself! Thank you for it, and for these suggestions! (though I don't think the family is much into curry.)