Time to bring back favorite casserole dish
Casserole cookery, food historians tell us, reached its height in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, right about the time people started entertaining in a more casual manner ( brunch, backyard cookouts), lightweight metal and glassware appeared on the market, and women’s magazines began promising (as they still do) to liberate their readers from long hours over the stove.
But casserole cookery is ancient. The word “casserole” is French in origin and refers to the cooking vessel, but evolved, over time, to also refer to the food inside it. John Mariani, in “The Dictionary of American Food and Drink,” says the word first appeared in English in 1708. Nearly every culture has dishes that are baked “en casserole.” But it was in the U.S. that the casserole took on the meaning of a “one-dish meal” with protein, vegetables and starch combined.
The problem with most casserole recipes, however, is that they don’t actually live up to their promise. Take the iconic Tuna Noodle Casserole. It’s got the protein (tuna) and the starch (noodles). But veggies? You could count the microscopic mushroom pieces in the cream of mushroom soup called for in the recipe. Some people throw in some peas, which hardly makes it a vegetable-rich dish.
Consider most of the casseroles you probably have seen or eaten lately: Italian or Mexican lasagna, mac and cheese, franks and beans. Same story.
A close examination of two casserole cookbooks published since the turn of the 21st century found precious few recipes that live up to the idea of a healthful, tasty, one-dish meal. There were some terrific dishes with the instructions to “serve over rice” or couscous or pasta. There were several that required a salad to round out the meal. But this defeats the entire purpose of the casserole, and complicates your life when the entire point is to simplify it.
CHICKEN AND RICE CASSEROLE Yield: 8 servings 2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons olive oil 8 chicken pieces (thighs work well)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 thick slices fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 pound white button or brown crimini mushrooms, sliced 2 cups broccoli florets 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice, or mixture of brown, wild and white rice
1 cup white wine or white vermouth
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Heat the stock in a small pot until simmering, and keep hot.
You can skin the chick- en if you like, or, with scissors, simply trim off the heavy pieces of fat. Heat oil over medium heat in a 10- to 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Cook the chicken skin-side down until it begins to brown, about 4 minutes, and turn over and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
Drain all but two tablespoons of the fat from the skillet. Return the pan to the heat and add the onion, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, mushrooms and broccoli. Stir-fry lightly, about 3 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the hot stock and wine; stir and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Scrape the mixture from the skillet into a 13by-9-inch baking dish and place the chicken on top. Be sure to pour in any juices that accumulated while the chicken rested. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bake about 1 hour, or until rice is cooked. Serve hot.
(Recipe from “The River Run Cookbook” by Jimmy and Maya Kennedy; HarperCollins, 2001.)