Showing posts with label Casseroles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Casseroles. Show all posts
Cowboy Casserole. Such a simple name, but wow, what fabulous flavours. This recipe I am sharing with you today is one I have adapted from a cookerybook entitled the Betty Crocker Ultimate Bisquick Cookbook.
I bought it second hand from Amazon. Most of the time their second hand books are quite reasonable and in fairly decent shape. My heart breaks when I think of the cookbook collection I had to leave behind in the UK. All of my Dorie Greenspan books, etc. I will hopefully gradually be able to build the collection back up again in time. We will see.
One thing which appealed about this recipe is the fact that it seemed relatively simple to make and did not require a lot of ingredients. My sister had taken a pound of ground beef from the freezer. I made several suggestions as to what we could make with it.
Most received a nay. This recipe did tempt them however, and I got the go-ahead. Whew! You can use ready made Bisquick for this or you could make your own baking mix to use in this. I always made my own baking mix when I was in the UK. You can get that recipe here.
You could also make a homemade biscuit dough of a dropping consistency to drop over top of the casserole. I have included some instructions on how to do that in the recipe.
All work well. All are delicious, although I do have to say I am a bit partial to the homemade biscuit dough. It is probably because of the butter. 😋 Butter makes everything tastier.
I am not sure why it is called Cowboy Casserole. Probably because of the ground beef and the baked beans. Surely cowboy types of foods. Many a cowboy has been sustained by ground beef and baked beans when out on the range.
My sister buys organic grass-fed beef. She buys it at a local farm market, frozen in one pound packages. When I was in the UK I bought ground steak from my local butcher.
In any case you want to use a good quality of ground beef here. You want it fairly lean. I think if I was living on my own I would just grind up my own steak for this.
I cannot stand cheap ground beef. Not only do you end up pouring half of it away in fat, which is a huge colossal waste of money, but it stinks when you are cooking it.
There is no economy in buying cheap ground meat. The fat content is far too high for one thing. And you are paying for all of that fat. Fat which you will not be eating.
Or at least that you shouldn't be eating, not if you care for your arteries anyways. A small amount of fat is okay, but I would never use beef that had any more than 5 % fat in it. This is just my way of thinking and how I like to do things.
But then again ground beef has never really been a favourite of mine and not something I would eat at all when I was growing up. And I am really not fond of it mixed with other things, as in casseroles. Its a texture thing.
You know what they say . . . . there's naught so queer as folk. And some of us are a bit weirder than others! We are all different and I like to celebrate our differences as much as I can!
Life would be incredibly boring were we all the same! Now back to the casserole.
You need a tin of baked beans for this, and some prepared BBQ sauce. You could make your own BBQ sauce if you wanted to. For this recipe you would need tomato ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestshire sauce, dry mustard powder and some seasoning.
I would start with 1/2 cup (120g) of the ketchup and add 1 TBS each of the brown sugar and cider vinegar. 1 tsp of dry mustard powder, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce and then salt and black pepper to your taste.
If you have it you could add liquid smoke to really give it that campfire taste.
We used an ordinary can of original baked beans. (Bush's) In the UK you could use Heinz or any other brand. I think in something like this the brand of baked beans doesn't really matter that much overall.
I did find that the mixture was a bit too thick and so I added a bit of boiling water to thin it out a bit and it could have been a bit thinner still I think. You judge accordingly.
You don't want it too thin and you don't want it too thick. I would also be tempted to add an additional half a can of beans, but then I really like baked beans.
You could really amp it up by adding some chopped onion, green chillies and garlic when you are frying the ground beef. That would give it it a bit of delicious heat, but it is up to you!
As you can see it was fairly thick. The biscuit dough absorbs some of the liquid, so don't be afraid to make your beef mixture a bit thinner!
Its really delicious however, so don't mess with the flavours too much. They don't do salt at all in this house so I only added some ground black pepper. And to be honest you really didn't need any salt.
I've never been one to add a lot of salt to things anyways, but I often do add a tiny bit to things. Its all a matter of taste and what you are used to. Using less salt never hurt anyone.
And in fact its much better for you to use less.
We actually used a Tex Mex mix of cheese to sprinkle on top that we had leftover from some natchos we had made around New Years. It was a tiny bit spicy so that worked well with the rest of the flavours.
I would normally use a good strong cheddar cheese. The stronger the flavour of your cheese, the less you need to use. Its a fact.
Anyways, I think this was enjoyed. I had no complaints really and I did enjoy it myself. I served it with some homemade coleslaw. I do make good coleslaw if I don't say so myself.
You can find my coleslaw recipe here. Creamy Coleslaw. Its my favourite. I don't always add the cucumber. Yesterday it was only cabbage, carrots and some scallion/spring onion. BBQ always goes well with coleslaw.
I hope you will want to give this a go. I highly recommend it for a fabulously tasty, family friendly, mid-week supper entree!
Cowboy Casserole
Yield: 6
prep time: 10 Mincook time: 25 Mintotal time: 35 Min
Quick, easy and incredibly delicious. This tasty casserole uses only a few ingredients, cooks quickly and is a real family pleaser.
Ingredients
- 1 pound (453g) extra lean ground beef
- 1 can (16 oz/453g) baked beans
- 1/2 cup (120g) BBQ sauce
- 2 cups (240g)Original Bisquick
- 2/3 cup (160ml) milk
- 1 TBS softened butter
- 1/2 cup (40g) grated cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven o 425*F/220*C/ gas mark 7. Have ready a 2 litre/Qt casserole dish. No need to butter it.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Crumble in the ground beef. Scramble fry the beef for 5 to 7 minutes until browned and no longer pink. Drain if needed.
- Add the BBQ sauce and baked beans, stirring everything thoroughly together. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Keep warm.
- Stir together the baking mix, softened butter and milk.
- Pour the beef mixture into the baking dish. Smooth over and then drop the baking mix over top by spoonfuls to cover.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18 to 22 minutes until the biscuit topping is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the cheese. Return to the oven for about 3 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.
- Serve hot.
notes:
You can make your own biscuit mixture from scratch to drop on top very easily. Whisk together 2 cups (280g) all purpose flour with 4 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Cut in 1/2 cup (120g) butter until crumbly. Stir in 3/4 cup (180ml) milk until you have a soft droppable dough. Proceed as above. You may need more milk to get the right consistency.
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This is one of my absolute all time favourite chicken casseroles. Not
only is is a great way to use up stale bread, but you can also use up
leftover cooked chicken or even turkey, or you can cook chicken specifically just to
use in it.
This is a recipe which I adapted from an Amish Cookery book I had many moons ago.
You know how that goes. Eventually the recipe becomes your own and it
is no different with this! Its now so much my own that it only vaguely
resembles the original.
I love recipes like this. They may seem a bit old fashioned, but they are always delicious and you don't really need to buy in anything special to make them. Most of the time you will have everything you need right in the house to make them.
I usually poach chicken to use in this recipe. You can also use leftover cooked roast chicken or the leftovers from a rotisserie chicken.
Poaching chicken is very easy to do. I usually poach a whole package of chicken breasts at a time.
Just take a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and place them into a saucepan large enough to hold them. Cover with either cold water or cold chicken broth, or a combination of the two.
You can add some salt and peppercorns if you wish. Just bring to the boil then simmer them, covered for about 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the size and amount of them.
Turn the burner off and leave them covered in the stock to cool down just until you can comfortably touch them with your hands. Remove from the stock, shred and use as you would for any recipe requiring cooked chicken. Don't forget to reserve the stock for use in this particular recipe.
The meat always comes out tender and juicy and filled with flavour. You can cook lots at one time and then just freeze it in lots containing two cups. I just double bag it in zip lock freezer bags.
Make sure you label it with the contents and date. Then you will always have cooked chicken on tap and ready to use. You can break it apart very easily from frozen, or thaw it out on the defrost cycle of your microwave oven.
Another thing I like to do when I am using celery is to destring it. I trim both ends and then catch the strings with the end of my knife and pull them towards me. You can just throw the strings away.
Celery strings can sometimes be really tough and chewy. Removing them takes away that problem. It doesn't take long. Lots of people don't like stringly celery. I don't like stringy celery. This way you get all of the flavour without any of the nuisance!
I use the whole loaf bread, crusts and all. Best is a rustic type of loaf, more like homemade bread. It is sturdier and holds up better. No need to dry it.
Just tear it into rough crumbs. You don't want them to be fine at all. You want some texture and substance.
I only ever use butter for cooking. I never use margarine, although I am sure that you could if you really wanted to. I prefer the flavour of butter and I like that it is an all natural product.
I really don't want to fill my body with artificial fats and chemicals. Butter all the way here! I also think butter has a flavour that nothing else really comes close to. That's me. I am a butter fiend!
You only want to add enough chicken stock to the bread to moisten it, so that it is not overly dry. You do NOT want it to be soggy in any way!
The original recipe was very plain. It had no onion, or herbs. I like onion and I like herbs. I also love stuffing, so my adaptions included ways to make it taste more like stuffing.
The original also didn't include celery or any stock. It was basically
just stewed chicken mixed with bread and a ton of butter, with some
celery seed and seasoning. It was very good. (Think of a whole pound
of butter. Yikes! No wonder it was considered tasty!)
Cutting the amount of butter back and adding some aromatics took nothing away from the original. Its a bit healthier and I love the flavours of the celery and onion, plus the herbs.
Not only that, but the butter you do use is infused with the
flavours of celery and onion so it really tastes better with less. Know
what I mean? You can't go wrong!
Whatever . . . stale bread, butter softened celery and onion, a
variety of herbs, seasoning and tender poached chicken mixed with a tiny
bit of stock and baked to give you one very delicious and simple
entree.
This is really very, very good. Especially if you serve it with a bit of gravy and some vegetables on the side. We like tiny boiled potatoes with ours, but mash would also be great!
Leave it to the Amish to create something incredibly delicious out of next to nothing!
Amish Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Yield: 4 - 6
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 45 Mintotal time: 1 Hour
This is a fabulously tasty and easy bake. Just throw it together and pop it into the oven. I like to serve it with gravy, potatoes and vegetables on the side.
Ingredients
- 3 large chicken breast filets, poached in chicken stock and cooled (Reserve the stock)
- 1 medium loaf of sturdy stale white bread
- 1/2 cup (125g) of butter (1/2 cup)
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 stalks celery, washed, trimmed and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1/2 tsp celery seed
- 1/2 tsp each of dried parsley, crumbled sage, thyme and summer savory if you have it
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a large shallow casserole. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and celery and cook over medium low heat until softened. Stir in the salt, pepper, celery seed and herbs. Set aside.
- Crumble the bread into a large bowl. Shred the chicken coarsely and add to the bread. Pour the butter mixture over all and toss together. Add only enough leftover stock so that your mixture is not totally dry. You don't want it soggy.
- Pile into the prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with greased foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. Delicious!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at mariealicejoan at aol dot com.
This dish I am showing you today is a fabulous vegetarian main dish, filled with lovely flavours and textures. this is always assuming that you still eat eggs and cheese.
If not, well, then I can't help you! This tasty one dish supper makes good use of leftover cooked potato. You can also cook potatoes fresh to use in it.
True confessions here, I have also used tinned new potatoes, drained well and sliced into rounds. They worked quite well. I usually have a few tins of new potatos in the cupboard.
Did you know that new potatoes are fairly low GI? It's true and when you combine the with a fat (cheese) and a protein (egg) you lower the GI even more.
When combined with a slice of whole wheat bread and some salad, that makes this quite a diabetic-friendly meal. I am always trying to lower my GI if I can.
As a diabetic, it can be really difficult to balance your diet, especially if you live with others who are not diabetics. My father is also a diabetic so we are both in the same boat.
You can leave it just as it is, with just the potatoes, onions and cheese. You can also amp it up a bit by adding some other vegetables to it.
I add cooked green beans to add a small portion of your five a day, and to add some colour.You could add any cooked vegetable you enjoy. This adds interest, texture and colour.
My friend Jacquie used to make a potato pie that was absolutely gorgeous. It had plenty of green beans in it. I lost the recipe after I moved over to the UK.
The last time I e-mailed her, my e-mail bounced back. I will have to contact her daughter on Instagram to see if there is a new e-mail address I can contact her with. I really hate losing touch with good friends. She is actually just living down the road from me now.
I seem to recall she also used filo pastry in hers as a crust.
I always called Jacquie my White Angel because she had beautiful white hair, just like a shining gossamer halo. She was so good to me when my previous marriage broke up and I was on my own. She was a wonderful friend, along with her husband Tom.
I could not have asked for two more loving and supportive friends. They are just two very special people. Tom was a vegetarian and Jacquie practiced the art of food combining. She was an iridologist, reflexologist, and herbologist and was very good at all three.
I think that she is the one and only friend I have ever allowed access to my feet. This says a lot. I have a thing about my feet.
If you have never been to a reflexologist, you really need to treat yourself sometime! You will feel like a million bucks afterwards, truly!
Jacquie always told me that all disease starts in the bowel. She could look at your eyes and see what was wrong with your organs, etc. She was a really special gal and very good at what she did.
Her home always smelled wonderful, like herbs and garlic. I loved Jacquie, being in her home, her potato pie, and I loved her Tofu Burgers. They were very tasty as well.
But back to this delicious casserole. You could serve it as a side if you wanted to and it would serve more people. I cannot think of anything it wouldn't go with. Being Friday, I think grilled fish would go well.
As a main, however, it serves 4 to 6 depending on appetities. It really has fabulous flavours . . . and yet it is so simple.
Cheese, onions, potatoes, and green beans are layered up in a dish. A seasoned milk and egg mixture is poured over top.
It doesn't get much easier than that. Really simple. We are going to be eating so much rich food over the next couple of weeks, simple just fits the bill for now. We are resting before the Christmas onslaught!
You bake it, covered, for about 20 minutes or so, uncover it and give it a stir and then bake it for another 20 or 25 minutes, until all of the flavours have melded and the custard has set properly.
It is almost like a baked potato and cheese omelet. I think personally that it is very, very good. If you are looking for somehing simple and yet very tasty, you really can't go wrong with this.
I always really enjoyed the way the British called any kind of layered casserole a pie. They didn't really call them casseroles, unless they involved stewed meat. Then it might be casseroled beef, etc. That was a casserole to them.
Anything layered like this was called a pie. It didn't have to have a crust. It was just a layered bake.
I suppose every country has its own quirks and ways of doing things. That is what I love most about travel and about different cultures.
I love to learn and embrace new things, and this was one that I personally loved. But then I am a foodie.
Potato & Cheese Pie
Yield: 4 - 6 as a Vegetarian main
prep time: 15 Mincook time: 50 Mintotal time: 1 H & 5 M
Simple and delicious. Serve warm with fresh bread, sliced tomatoes and a salad.
Ingredients
- 700g waxy new potatoes, peeled and sliced (2 pounds)
- 2 large free range eggs
- 275ml whole milk (9 1/2 fluid ounces)
- 125g grated cheese (generous cup, I use Parmesan and Cheddar)
- salt and black pepper
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- a handful of cooked sliced green beans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Parboil the potatoes for about 5 minutes in lightly salted boiling water. Drain well, and cool slightly. (Alternatively use leftover cooked new potatoes, peeled and sliced.)
- Butter an oven-proof dish. Layer in the potato, grated cheese, onion and greenbeans alternately, ending with a layer of cheese.
- Beat together the eggs and milk, seasoning lightly with salt and black pepper. Pour this mixture over the potatoes and cheese in the dish. Cover tightly with a buttered sheet of foil.
- Cook in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Uncover and stir the potatoes from the outside to the centre. Cook, uncovered for a further 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm.
This really makes for a lovely light supper. We have it with buttered whole wheat bread and a mixed salad on the side. I love the supersalad salad greens which have baby kale, rocket, spinach and baby chard in them, along with shredded beetroot. They are fabulous. I hope you will give this a go!
This content (written and
photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting
or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please
know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at:
mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come
again!
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I'm bringing you another Quarantine Recipe today by way of Ham & Broccoli Casserole. The latest recipe in my quest to prove that you can be stuck in a motel room for two weeks and still eat well!
Of course, it goes without saying that you don't have to be trapped in a motel room to cook these recipes. I like to think that these can be delicious no matter where you cook them! Obviously if you are at home you will have extra options in how you can add additional layers of flavour to this dish.
I call this delicious bare-bones cooking, or cooking by the seat of your pants! Ready Steady Cook cookery!
I had my sister pick me up a package of frozen hash browns to use in this recipe. Other than that I already had everything else I needed!
I have learned a few new things about Quarantine this week and how to do it successfully. When you are living in a motel room you can but hope that the room is well provided for when it comes to cooking tools and utensils.
Unfortunately my room is not that well heeled. If there was more than just me, we would be hard pressed as there is only one dinner fork and dinner knife. There are no knives at all that are suitable for cutting anything safely.
The dinner plates/etc. that they have are quite manky looking. They are discolourd and stained, etc. and not entirely suitable for putting in the microwave as they are cheap "dollar-store" plastic.
I can understand people not wanting to put quality goods in a motel room, but if you have their credit card details, and make it clear that they will be charged for anything that disappears or gets broken, surely you could fit the room with a few at least half-decent things.
There is one stained and ugly non-stick frying pan. One baking sheet, equally stained and ugly. A whole drawer full of dollar store utensils such as spaghetti forks, slotted spoon, spatula, etc. But without a pot large enough to cook spaghetti in, well . . . you know.
This little casserole dish I have used is what was in the cupboard holding stir sticks and sugars for making coffee. There are about a bazillion coffee cups by the way, as well as two smallish saucepans which would be suitable to heat up baked beans, etc. There is also a working microwave and toaster. I am not sure about the coffee maker as I don't drink coffee.
There is a can opener which does not work. Repeat. Does not work. I think, personally, they have a lot of cheek charging me over $600 a week for this place, but hey, beggars can't be choosers! I have had to ask for clean towels and garbage bags. There are no cleaning supplies, and I have not been given clean bed linens.
This town is not situated in an area that is big for takeaway or delivery food services. If you were in a larger area you wouldn't have to worry too much about being able to feed yourself if you had those services available.
Here in this small town I am very much reliant on the capacity to be able to cook for myself, and I am doing the best that I can.
Some things you might want to consider bringing with you should you find yourself in the same situation. Make sure you have a sharp knife with you which is suitable for cutting/chopping things. Likewise a small grater would be handy.
You might also want to pack yourself a good in-working-order can opener! Also a selection of cutlery, and something to use to disinfect anything that you might need to use from the room. A small bottle of dish soap would be very good to have, as well as cleaning towelettes.
You have no way of knowing how long the things have been sitting in the cupboards/drawers, or the level of cleanliness habits of the room/suite's previous occupants. I may just be ultra picky. I don't know.
One thing is for sure. I don't want to be eating on or around other people's filth, so be prepared to clean everything before you use it. You may also want to bring with you several dish clothes and tea towels. Also pot holders. There are none in this room.
I had my sister bring me down some and they are doing double duty as pot holders. I am so lucky I have someone that I can just call to bring me stuff when I need it.
Even so, I don't want to be putting her out if I can help it. I don't want to be wearing out my welcome before I even move in!
So these are just a few hints and tips that I can think of that might make your quarantine stay a bit easier to navigate. Forewarned is forearmed!
So back to this casserole. I had my sister pick me up a bag of frozen loose hash browns. In the UK you could use regular hashbrown patties, crumbled. Or you could use chopped boiled potatoes!
I also had some raw broccoli in the refrigerator as well as a few slices of deli-ham. I blanched the broccoli to use in this. It only takes a few minutes in boiling water and I used the stems chopped as well as the florets.
The ham I chopped up into a small dice. Boy I sure could have used a good knife! Never mind I am making do!
I had run out of spring onion, so I had my sister bring me an ordinary onion. I chopped a portion of this to stir into the casserole dish.
I also had some strong cheddar cheese which I chopped. Some went into the casserole wih the potatoes, ham, onions and broccoli, and some I reserved to use as a topping.
Having mixed all of that together I only needed to add something to give it some moisture. I have milk and mayonnaise and Dijon mustard.
The perfect combination and very flavourful! I added salt and pepper. Also my daughter had dropped off some summer savoury that she had bought to bring over to me in the UK. I got to use some of it now, which worked well!
I realise that summer savoury is a very Maritime thing. It can be somewhat difficult to find anywhere else. You can substitute some dried thyme in its place.
And that was it. I mixed this all together and spread it into a buttered small casserole dish.
I can't think of a casserole on earth that would not benefit from having something crisp and crunchy sprinkled on top. I thought of using some of my crunchy Cheetos, but then thought again!
I had some potato chips and crumbled some of them. With a bit more cheese added to them, I sprinkled them over top a la Mom!
Into the oven and half an hour later I was sitting down to a delicious one dish meal. I added a salad on the side. I love salad and its a great way to get in extra vegetables.
I have to say that this smelled amazing when it was baking. My daughter had dropped by to see if I needed anything and she could smell it and thought it smelled fabulously tasty also! In or out of quarantine, I hope you will give it a tasty go!!
Ham & Broccoli Casserole
Yield: 2
prep time: 5 Mincook time: 35 Mininactive time: 5 Mintotal time: 45 Min
Another delicious quarantine recipe created from what I had on hand. Loving it!
Ingredients
- 2 mug fulls of loose hashbrowns (about 1 1/4cups)
- 4 slices of boiled ham, chopped
- 3 TBS chopped onion
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 broccoli florets, blanched and chopped
- 2 Individual portions of strong cheddar cheese (each about 2 inches wide, 3 inches long and 1/3 inch thick)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp summer savoury or dried thyme
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 4 TBS of mayonnaise
- 1 TBS Dijon mustard
Topping:
- 1 2-inch cube of strong cheddar cut into small cubes
- a handful of potato chip crumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a small casserole dish really well. (The one in my room is about 5 inches square.)
- Mix the potatoes, ham, onion, garlic, broccoli and cheese together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Beat together the milk, mayonnaise and mustard. Pour over the mixture in the bowl and mix well together to combine. Pour into the casserole dish and spread out evenly.
- Mix together the potato chip crumbs and cheese for the topping and sprinkle evenly over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until cooked through and bubbling. Let stand for five minutes prior to serving.
I will enjoy the leftovers from this tomorrow and I have some of the chicken rice dish frozen to enjoy as well. I am not sure how many more inventive quarantine dishes I will make as I am being sprung-free on Friday! I hope, however, that this series has been somewhat helpful!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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