Grandma's Chinese Chicken Casserole. This is one of my all-time favorite chicken casseroles. I can't begin to tell you why it is called a Chinese casserole because there doesn't seem to be anything remotely Chinese about it.
Not unless you count the crispy chow mien noodles and salted cashew nuts on top! Everything else reads like an ordinary chicken casserole!
If it was good enough for Grandma to call it Chinese, then its good enough for me to call it Chinese. No matter, its delicious which is all you need to know!
This is something I like to make when I have leftover cooked chicken to use up. I eat chicken a lot and I always have leftover chicken waiting to be used.
The original recipe called for a can of cream of chicken soup. I didn't have any today and so I made a simple chicken cream sauce to use in its place and it worked deliciously!
In fact I may never use a can of soup in this ever again!
If you can make a simple béchamel sauce or a cream sauce, then you can make the sauce for this. The only thing different I did was to add half of one of those Knorr chicken gel stock pots.
This gave it a rich chicken flavour. If you don't have one of those, use 1 tsp of chicken bullion powder. I think it would work very well. I like the gel stock pots myself. I have been using them for years and was so happy to see that they also have them here in Canada.
I cut my regular recipe in half so that it now makes only 3 to 4 servings. I would say 3 realistically. Unless you are extremely hungry and it will feed 2 generously.
This is also a great store cupboard meal. I used a pouch of the already cooked Uncle Ben's Rice. They are sized to feed two people. I used the mushroom and wild rice one.
That was a good call on my part. I loved the extra mushroomy flavor it gave to the finished dish. I like using those pouches of cooked rice. They come in handy for all sorts.
I always have several in the cupboard. Usually just brown rice or plain basmati rice, but today I happened to have the mushroom and wild.
I am not against using things like this for convenience sake. I am not a tinned soup snob, nor am I a convenience food snob. They have their uses.
And casseroles is one of them! We don't always have time to make everything from scratch, so if we can hook together a few things like this to make something truly delicious for our families, I say why not!
When I made this in the UK, I could never put the crispy chow mien noodles on top. They simply did not exist over there. I made do with just the nuts, or some cracker crumbs and the nuts.
I don't think it really matters, just so long as you have something crunchy on top to add some extra texture.
The chow mien noodles are extra nice however and beautifully crunchy. When we were kids sometimes we would buy a can of chow mien noodles and eat them as a snack.
I have not seen the canned ones since my return to Canada. Perhaps they don't make them anymore. These noodles are always nice to have in the store cupboard because they do make nice crunchy toppings on casseroles and they are a must for haystack cookies.
This really is a fabulous casserole with the crunch of celery, grated carrot, onions and plenty of chicken, all stirred together in that sauce, along with some rich mayonnaise.
I am no stranger to casserole love however. Some more of my favorites are:
Again, they are just the tip of the iceberg. If you put Chicken Casserole into the search engine at the top of this page, you will discover lots of chicken casseroles, each one as delicious as the next!
Like I said I am a huge fan of casseroles in general and I especially love chicken casseroles.
If you are looking for an extra creamy, delicious and rich chicken casserole to feed yourself and your partner, with some added crunchy toppings then you have just struck gold. This is the one for you!
I served mine with some coleslaw on the side and a splash of soy sauce and some green tabasco. Not traditionally Chinese I know, but hey ho, it tasted fabulous, and that's what counts most!
Chinese Chicken Casserole
Yield: 3 - 4
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 50 Min
I cut my regular recipe in half to make fewer servings and replaced the condensed soup with a homemade sauce in this fabulously tasty old favorite! Its delicious!
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/2 Knorr gel chicken stock pot
- 1 cup (240ml) whole milk
For the casserole:
- Sauce as above
- 2 cups (280g) cooked chicken, cubed
- 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 medium carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 small stick of celery, trimmed, washed and chopped
- 1/2 cup (110g) mayonnaise
- 1 pouch Uncle Ben's cooked rice, mushroom and wild rice (about 1 1/4 cups cooked rice)
- 1/2 tsp garlic granules
- 1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
to finish:
- 1 cup salted roasted cashews
- 1 cup crispy chow Mein noodles
- Soy sauce and hot sauce to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F/ 190*C/ gas mark 5. Butter an 8 inch square baking dish. Set aside.
- Melt the butter for the sauce in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour and the gel stock. Cook for a minute. Whisk in the milk and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
- Crumble the rice into a bowl. Add the cooked chicken, onion, carrot and celery. Stir in the sauce and mayonnaise, along with the garlic granules and pepper. You should not need any salt.
- Pour this mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven. Scatter the cashew nuts and crispy noodles on top. Return to the oven and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes.
- The casserole should be hot and bubbly and totally heated through.
- Spoon out to serve. Pass the soy sauce and the hot sauce. Delicious!
Notes:
If desired you can use 1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted, in place of the sauce.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
694.24Fat (grams)
45.71Sat. Fat (grams)
10.49Carbs (grams)
40.78Fiber (grams)
2.40Net carbs
38.37Sugar (grams)
3.37Protein (grams)
28.63Sodium (milligrams)
803.45Cholesterol (grams)
111.37
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I love sausages and I am always on the lookout for easy sausage recipes. And if I can cook a meal as an all in one baking sheet meal, then I am even happier.
The recipe for this tray bake meal I am sharing with you today is not only quick and easy, but it has incredibly autumn flavors, textures and colors. And if you line your baking sheet with aluminum foil, there is not a lot of clean up as well.
It is also perfectly sized for two people, although you could certainly double the ingredients and make it for four or even more if you wished!
The recipe is one which I adapted from the Sainsbury's site. Sainsbury's was a grocery chain in the UK and I used to subscribe to their monthly magazine. It was one of my favorite cooking magazines.
One thing I really loved about the UK was their sausages. Not the cheap and nasty ones, but the quality butcher's sausages that you could buy. I had my favorites, Cumberland. I shall miss them here. I may need to study up on how to make my own.
I have found some fairly decent sausage here however. This is what I have been buying and they are really quite good. I have also had their honey garlic ones and their Italian sausage. All are very good. I highly recommend.
There were a number of thing which appealed to me about this recipe. One, I could make it completely on a baking sheet. I love sheet pan dinners.
Two, it uses many of the things I love. Sausages, butternut squash, red onions, parsnips and blackberries.
It may sound like an unusual combination with the blackberries, but trust me when I tell you they totally work here.
Pork and fruit are a beautiful and a traditional combination. Think pork chops and applesauce. This is a delightful combination and very autumnal, making great use of ingredients that are available now.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. The harvest is mostly in and we have an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables available to us. The days are cooler and not so humid.
We can start to enjoy some of our favorite comfort foods again because of the cooler temperatures, and then there is the colors and smells of Autumn. Oranges and browns and golds. The smell of bonfires and falling leaves. Its all good.
This beautiful one-pan supper embodies all of those things. You have the convenience of cooking it all on one pan, no fuss, no muss.
You get to enjoy perfectly cooked robust sausages. Beautifully caramelized parsnips and butternut squash, and onions.
Roasted to perfection and then adorned with sweet/tart blackberries and that lush grainy mustard and maple glaze.
So everything is sticky and tart and sweet and moreishly savory. Supper perfection I call this. Supper perfection.
Blackberries are the jewels of autumn and we need to enjoy them fresh while we can! I shall miss the brambles of England.
I really shall. As well as the sausages, but I can at least enjoy the flavors in flavors that come a close second. I think perhaps this winter I am going to explore making my own bangers. Watch this space!
I adore Parsnips. They were not a vegetable we ever had really when I was growing up, although they were very common. My mother hated parsnips with a passion.
I remember her buying them once and frying them to see if her tastes had changed. They hadn't, but I fell in love. You can find my Butter Fried Parsnips recipe here. Prepare to fall in love.
I also love butternut squash. It is my favorite of all the squashes. I do a lot with butternut squash.
Here are some of my favorite butternut squash recipes:
And those are only a few of the ways I enjoy using it. I also love it simply roasted and mashed. Lets face it. I really enjoy butternut squash!
I have fond memories of blackberry picking with my sister on the banks of the Georgian Bay when I lived in Meaford one autumn. We picked tons and I made blackberry jelly with them.
I have not made jelly in years now. I used to so love putting up pickled and jams in the late summer and autumn months.
It would not be practical for me to do so now as I am only one and I can only eat so much!
So anyways, unusual or not, I do hope this is something you will want to try! I think you will enjoy it. In fact I am sure you will enjoy it.
Baked jacket potatoes or mashed potatoes go very well with this. Just saying. 😇
Sausage & Blackberry Tray Bake
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
This moreish traybake is very autumnal and filled with lush flavors and textures. You can prep all of the vegetables up to a day ahead, banging them onto the baking tray with the sausage when you go to cook supper. If you line the tray there isn't any clean up. No fuss, no muss and perfectly delicious!
Ingredients
- 1/2 of a medium sized butternut squash, peeled and cut into wedges
- 2 large parsnips, peeled and cut lengthwise into six pieces each
- 1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
- 1 1/2 TBS finely chopped sage (if using dried use only 3/4 TBS)
- 2 large banger sausages, or 4 regular sized sausage (use a nicely flavored one)
- 2 TBS light olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 TBS grainy mustard
- 2 TBS maple syrup
- 1 cup of fresh blackberries (about 150g)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425*F/220*C/ gas mark 7. Line a medium rimmed baking tray with aluminum foil and spray it with non-stick cooking spray.
- Prep all of your vegetables and pop them into a bowl along with your sausages, the oil, the sage and some seasonings. Spread them out onto the baking tray.
- Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and flip the sausages over. Return to the oven and roast for a further 20 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Whisk together the mustard and the maple syrup. Toss the vegetables and sausage with this mixture. Scatter the blackberries over top. Return to the oven for about 10 minutes or until glazed.
- Divide between two heated dinner plates and serve immediately. Baked jacket potatoes go lovely with this as does mounds of heavenly mash.
A few weeks back my sister and I picked up some Winter squashes at a farmer's market a bit further on up the valley from where we live. They had a huge variety of squashes available, ranging from every colour, shape and size under the sun.
I bought a mash potato squash and a sweet potato squash and a spaghetti squash. My two potato type of squashes were, the mash potato squash the size of a small bowling ball, and the sweet potato squash a similar weight and size (except it is elongated) and my spaghetti squash was roughly twice the size of the other two.
I had never cooked or eaten any of these squashes before, but I love squash in general and I was intrigued by the names. You can read about my experience in cooking the Mash Potato Squash here.
My sister had also bought several squashes, including the same types and she cooked the sweet potato squash one Sunday for with our dinner.
In general we discovered that both of these squashes have a very dry texture when cooked. This lends them beautifully towards mashing, or roasting, without having to drain off much liquid.
Their flavors were also quite mild, or bland, which meant that they would be beautiful when mixed together with other ingredients. We added butter and Maple syrup along with some seasoning to the sweet potato squash.
I treated the mash potato squash just like potato and simply mashed it together with some butter and seasoning. I thought it was delicious that way.
Today I got to thinking what if I really decided to treat it like a potato. I love adore twice baked potatoes.
When we were growing up, it was always a real treat if our mother made twice baked potatoes. Or stuffed baked potatoes, and it was the same when my own family was growing up.
We all love stuffed baked potatoes, be they as simple as just mashing the insides with some milk, butter, onion and seasoning and stuffing the insides back into the skin and re-baking, or if we got really fancy and added things like cheese and leeks and such!
I also make a really delicious Twice Baked Mashed Potato Casserole. Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes is the perfect size for two people to enjoy and makes great use of store cupboard ingredients, or even leftover mashed potatoes.
Mashed potatoes, crumbled cooked bacon, minced chives, sour cream, cream cheese . . . a bit of cheddar on top. Its really yummy! 😋😋😋
Anyways the wheels in my head started turning and I thought to myself . . . what if I applied the same techniques to the mash potato squash? What indeed!
The result is this fabulously tasty casserole dish that I am sharing with you today for Twice Baked Squash Casserole! This was delicious!
It boasts all of the elements of the mashed potato casserole with the exception of cream cheese. I didn't have any, but you can add some if you wish. About 1/4 cup, or 1 ounce, would be perfect.
I also didn't use chives this time, I used finely sliced spring onions, or scallions as they are also called. They are also known as green onions.
Other than that everything else was pretty much the same. I did not add milk or buttermilk because I didn't want the mixture to be sloppy. Mashed winter squash is slightly wetter than mashed potatoes, but not much.
But I knew adding milk would be going overboard, so don't be tempted. I also didn't add any butter and it didn't need it.
Bacon bits, sour cream, spring onions, cheese and some seasoning is all I needed to add. The squash itself was nice and nutty, with some golden brown bits from the oven roasting.
It mashed beautifully and was lovely and dry, perfect for this application. I simply stirred everything together and banged it into a small casserole dish topping it with some more cheese and bacon bits.
It baked up beautifully in the oven. Nice and golden brown. I used a mix of cheddars, both white and orange, sharp cheddar. Double cheddar. Double tasty. Double nice.
Out of the oven, I sprinkled a few more chopped spring onions on top as a garnish. This was gorgeous. It made a beautiful side dish for the roast chicken and green beans I was also having.
I could have very easily eaten a whole plate of this and nothing else! It was that good!! I think I found a new favorite way to serve winter squash!
What is your favorite way to cook winter squash??? Do you have a favorite winter squash? Any winter squashes you avoid? Why is that? I really want to know! Lets talk!
Twice Baked Squash Casserole
Yield: 3
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 1 H & 5 MTotal time: 1 H & 10 M
This was a little something I came up with to use a mash potato squash that I had. You will need a squash that has a dry firm texture, not wet. Buttercup, Hubbard, Mash Potato and Sweet Potato Squashes all work well for this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 dry squash (1 1/2 - 2 pounds in weight) (I used mash potato squash)
- 1/4 cup (30g) sour cream
- 1/2 cup (60g) grated strong cheddar cheese, divided
- 3 TBS real bacon bits
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 3 spring onions, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/189*C/ gas mark 4. Cut your squash in half and scoop out the seeds, discarding them.
- Place the squash halves, cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Roast in the preheated oven until tender. (Mine took about 40 minutes.)
- Remove from the oven, turn cut side up, and leave to sit for about 15 minutes, or until you can comfortably handle the squash.
- Scoop the flesh out into a bowl, discarding the skin. Season to taste with salt and pepper, remembering that cheese and bacon are both salty ingredients, so be judicious with the salt. Mash together with 3/4 of the cheese, 2 TBS of the bacon bits and 2/3 of the spring onions.
- Spoon this mixture into a 2-cup (1 pint) buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and bacon bits over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and heated through.
- Sprinkle the remaining spring onions on top and serve.
All-butter puff pastry is something I keep in my freezer all the time. It is considered to be a store cupboard ingredient in my home and something I am never without if I can help it.
It never goes to waste and comes in real handy for all sorts. Its one of those convenience things that you never regret buying. And as most chef's will tell you, its a convenience food ingredient most rely on.
Making puff pastry from scratch is a really fiddly operation and very time consuming. When you can buy ready made that is all butter and made from natural ingredients, why bother. It just makes sense to use the ready made.
The convenience of it far outweighs any other argument. That is what I used today for this Quick & Easy Apple Tart recipe.
Apple season is now upon us! I love fresh picked apples. I love apples! And I especially love apple tarts!
With there only being me in my home now, I don't have much use for a full apple tart however. So I created some quick & easy apple tarts, a recipe which makes only two delicious apple tarts.
I can assure you that they lack nothing of their larger, family sized counterparts. They are delicious!
And not only that, but they are incredibly quick and easy to make. I can be rather lazy you know and if I can find a short cut around things, I will seek it out.
You won't need a full sheet of puff pastry for these tarts, but don't worry, I am going to share a tasty way to use up the remnants at the end.
You will only need 1/2 of one sheet of pastry. You need to cut that in half, which will give you two six-inch squares.
These are placed on a parchment paper lined small rimmed baking sheet.
You need only one apple for this. You want a nice sweet eating apple, on the large size. This will need to be peeled, cored and cut in half.
You then cut them crosswise into thin slices, maintaining the integrity of the apple shape. You can leave the skin on if you really want to, but I prefer to remove it.
You will also need some spiced brown sugar. I mixed together brown sugar, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom and some freshly grated nutmeg. Half of this gets sprinkled in the center of each pastry square.
You then place half an apple in the center of each pastry square, trying to fan the slices out a bit, but also keeping the shape of the apple as much as you can. You want it to be pretty.
Once you have done that you roll the edges of the puff pastry up around the apple to make a kind of a lip. This is to help to keep the apple juices inside the tart as much as possible. You don't want any of those sweet juices to be wasted.
Once you have done all that you are going to brush the edges of the pastry and the apples with some melted butter. Easy peasy.
Then sprinkle the remainder of the cinnamon sugar over top of the sliced apple. They are ready to pop into a hot oven then and half an hour or so later, Bob's your Uncle! You can be enjoying a lovely fresh apple tart!
The Canadian in me loves to enjoy these warm with a scoop of ice cold vanilla ice cream. All of that cold ice cream vanilla deliciousness melting down into those tender sweet pieces of apple.
Gilding that beautiful buttery flakey pastry. This is nirvana. A quick and easy dessert made in heaven.
Of course if you are more than one or two people, you will be wanting something on a much larger scale, and you can certainly double all of the ingredients and make four apple tarts!
Or you may want to try some of my other easy apple desserts. Each one is very delicious!
Apple Pie Roll Ups (A prize winner)
Apple Pie Foldover
And what to do with the other half sheet of puff pastry? Why make Pets-de-Soeur of course!
Originally, "pets-de-sœur" were an economical dessert. They were cooked from leftover pastry to avoid waste. The name literally translates to "nuns' farts". Its a French Canadian thing.
Just spread the pastry with butter, cover with an even layer of brown sugar and then cinnamon. Roll up tightly, slice into 1 inch slices crosswise, and bake along side of the apple tarts. Yummilicious!
Quick & Easy Apple Tarts
Yield: 2
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 45 Min
These rustic puff pastry apple tarts are so simple to make a child could make them. Delicious served warm with some vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients
- 1 large crisp sweet eating apple, cored, peeled, cut in half and thinly sliced
- 1 sheet of frozen all butter puff pastry, thawed
- 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
- 1 TBS melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/gas mark 6. Line a small rimmed baking tray with some baking parchment.
- Mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.
- Cut the sheet of puff pastry in half, reserving half for another use. cut the half sheet in half. Place both halves onto the baking tray.
- Sprinkle half of the brown sugar mixture in the middle of each pastry square. Place an apple half on top. Fold the edges of the pastry inwards all around. Brush the apples and pastry edges with the melted butter. Sprinkle the remainder of the brown sugar mixture over each.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are tender.
- Serve the tarts warm with or without ice cream.
Notes:
If you wish to use the other half of the sheet of pastry in a delicious way, spread the sheet with softened butter. Sprinkle evenly all over with a thin layer of soft light brown sugar. Sprinkle evenly with some ground cinnamon. Roll up tightly and then cut crosswise into rounds Bake on a paper lined baking sheet/pie tin, along side of the apple tarts. Delicious!
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