Not Your Grandma’s Casserole: 29 Modern Casserole Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why does Anna always make chicken casserole? ›

Rich, comforting, and creamy, Anna's casserole dish starts out as an easy weeknight dinner that helps her get through the day after the death of her daughter, Elizabeth, and her divorce from her husband, Douglas.

In the United States, a casserole or hot dish is typically a baked food with three main components: pieces of meat (such as chicken or ground meat) or fish (such as tuna) or other protein (such as beans or tofu), various chopped or canned vegetables (such as green beans or peas), and a starchy binder (such as flour, ...

Macaroni and cheese is the oldest written casserole recipe found in 1250.

In general, you'll want to bake a casserole covered with aluminum foil for most of the cooking time. Covering the casserole helps lock in moisture and prevents it from drying out. If you don't cover the casserole or uncover it too soon, the casserole will dry out.

The three main thickening agents for gravies are flour, cornflour and arrowroot. The first two are normally used in savoury dishes while arrowroot tends to be used in sweet dishes – that said, arrowroot will work in a savoury dish as it has no flavour.

Anna makes the dishes because they remind her of her daughter and each time, the process becomes a little less painful as Anna works through her grief and guilt over Elizabeth's death.

Soft vegetables like broccoli can be quickly par-cooked (aka blanched). If you are using hard vegetables like potatoes or carrots or other hardy root vegetables, you'll want to par-cook for longer. Often a quick 2-5 minutes in the microwave will just give them that great head-start.

Not every single casserole has all of them, but as a rule of thumb, here's what to look for: a starch, a binding agent or sauce, and a protein or vegetable. Many casseroles also have both vegetables and proteins, as well as a crunchy element to give some textural contrast, and cheese.

Minnesota is the queen of the hotdish: a casserole that's usually made with a starch, meat, veggies and a can of soup.

Within Minnesota, it's “hot dish” (two words) and is a very common term for a wide variety of casseroles. I've also seen “hot dish” used in North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Can you put aluminum foil in a casserole dish? ›

Yes, aluminum foil can go in the oven. Because aluminum foil is made of metal, when placed in the oven, it heats up and becomes a conductor. It can be used in the oven to cover dishes as they cook or to line pans or baking sheets.

The hot water helps keep the temperature surrounding the food more consistent. This is particularly useful for recipes containing eggs, which can be quite temperamental in unmoderated temperatures. Delicate bakes using a custard or something similar (like cheesecake) will benefit greatly from the use of a water bath.

What Should I Bake In a Metal Baking Pan? We hate to say it – we've got nothing against glass, we promise! – but metal does an overall better job than glass of baking almost everything except for acidic desserts. It bakes evenly because it heats up so quickly.

Casseroles and "Southern Hospitality" Go Hand-in-Hand

They are warm dishes rich with flavor, texture, and soul. Casseroles are a simple way to feed a big group and are great for leftovers the next day."

They're easy to fix, feed a ton of folks, and can often be made ahead. What would Thanksgiving be without green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and of course, cornbread dressing—which is made in a casserole dish, so it totally counts.

The protagonist of the series, Anna, is seen baking a Chicken Casserole throughout the series. The casserole plays a bigger role in the thriller series than anyone would expect. If you watch closely, the Chicken Casserole actually gives out a clue that leads Anna to the killer.

Recipes for casseroles start appearing in American cookbooks in the late 19th century but the dish really grew in popularity during the Depression and World Wars. Vegetables and starches helped to pad a meal so that a small portion of meat could become a more filling dish during times of hardship.