‘Twofers’: Casseroles that buy you a night off
Asmuch as I like to cook, a good day for me is when I know I have great leftovers in the fridge for dinner and don’t have to plan, shop, or cook a meal. Wahoo! Unstructured hours of freedom for little projects or a walk, pulling out the watercolors, or pruning the hydrangeas.
The sky’s the limit atmy house!
Cooking for two after cooking for a family just naturally produces meals for two or three days — I’m thankful for a husband who never complains about a repeat meal, but there are lots of meals that are designed for leftovers. Casseroles come to mind, like mac and cheese, tamale pie, or lasagna, then soups and chili or any great pot of beans, even a turkey when it’s not Thanksgiving. The point is, Twofers give you dinner for two days and a day off fromthe kitchen.
If you have a leftover-tolerant family you can also make two of whatever you’re cooking, two meatloaves, or two lasagnas for example. It’s just as easy to make two while you’ve got all the ingredients out. You can freeze the second one, (it’s a nice sense of security having a yummy lasagna in the freezer), or like meatloaf or chili, eat it the next day with a different salad or side dish.
Casseroles, a mid-century concept, are usually baked uncovered in the oven, and contain some type of meat, poultry, or fish, chopped vegetables, a starchy binder like potatoes, rice, or cornmeal, or a condensed soup like cream of mushroom and a crunchy or cheesy topping. Typical casseroles include Lasagna, Macaroni and Cheese, Moussaka, Tamale Pie, Tuna Casserole,
Shepherd’s Pie, Ratatouille, Enchiladas, Eggplant Parmigiana, Stuffed Bell Peppers, Scalloped Potatoes, Turkey Tetrazzini, and so forth. A staple at potlucks, and family gatherings, casseroles are above all a comfort food.
There are advantages to casserole cooking which make it relevant to today’s family: they can be made ahead and frozen or re-heated. Casseroles take a minimal amount of equipment and make meal-planning simple. You can bake them unsupervised, while you pay attention to guests, homework, football or Instagram while they’re cooking.
Modern casseroles, rediscovered by young families, can incorporate the best qualities of contemporary cooking such as fresh ingredients, leaner meats, more vegetables, healthy grains and pastas, and lighter sauces, according to Maryana Vollstedt , author of “The Big Book of Casseroles,” Chronicle Books, 2000. If you don’t have a dusty little card file full of 3-by-5 cards with casserole recipes, talk to your grandmother, or look for one of these books: “Sunday Casseroles” by Betty Rosbottom, Chronicle, 2014; “Lost Recipes” by Marion Cunningham, or Vollstedt’s casserole book. Seek out church or community cookbooks, or Google “casseroles” for recipes from TV