Tuesday, December 7, 2010

My First Casserole

Remember all those shows from when you were young where the neighbour would show up with a casserole? Or a family member would rave or rant about their mothers casserole, be it broccoli or tuna. I remember asking my mum what a casserole was once upon hearing about them on TV for the thousandth time. She definitely never made a casserole. My first casserole experience was when I was about 13, and I stayed for dinner at my friend R's house. Her mum made a casserole and asked if I liked casserole. I had to admit to Momma I, I was a casserole virgin.

I continued my efforts to use everything in The Box today. I tackled the packet of mushrooms. Mushrooms are a man-vegetable in my book. I think it's because they go so well with steak. BBQ season? That's when it pays to have a barn full of chicken s*** (I am not entirely sure of how a commercial mushroom operation works, but a friend of mine worked at one once in the Okanagan, this is where I get the chicken sh*** idea from).

I couldn't think of a soup or a pie that I could stick the mushrooms into, so I checked out 101 Cookbooks, that's when I decided to make my very first casserole.

You will need:

1 8oz package of mushrooms
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups cooked brown rice, room temp.
1 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (the recipe called for part cottage cheese, part sour cream, but I don't eat the latter. no, not even on nachos.)
2 eggs
parmesan cheese
salt
olive oil

Chop the mushrooms and saute for a few minutes with olive oil and salt, until they start to brown and some of the liquid is released. Add the chopped onion for about 5 minutes, and then the garlic for another minute. Remove from heat, and stir in the rice.

In a bowl, mix together the eggs, cottage cheese and salt. Mix in with the veggie/rice mixture. Move to casserole dish (formerly known as the shepherd's pie dish in our kitchen). Sprinkle with a layer of parmesan cheese, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

It looks exactly like a casserole, the contents somewhat unidentifiable, and no expectation of texture or flavour. I haven't tried it yet since I threw it together (that's my casserole talk, borrowed from TV) at 10pm. Maybe I should throw it in the freezer, you know, save it for a rainy day. I'll let you know what happens to this dish!




2 comments:

  1. I could come over this weekend with 'others' and try out the 'mashed leftover bits' and bring lots of water and make sure we have good tea afterwards?

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  2. The casserole didn't quite make it that far, I ate most of it before Friday, yum!

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