First Trip to an American Classic

[akirlu]

Well, not bad for a first try.

I don't know if I should confess this (or if not, which part is more dubious) but I've never in my life made that classic of American cookery, the Campbell's cream-of-something casserole, or what I believe the Minnesotans refer to as 'hot dish.' But today I had one of those wild hare moments, and wanted something with rice, chicken, and cheese. Since I had some leftover chicken that needed using up, and a few sorts of cream of whatsit in the cupboard from the last time I had a fit of funeral potatoes, I figured, what the hell? So I looked up a recipe online, diddled it a tiny bit to fit what I had, and, again, mostly for my reference, today's experiment:

1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken with Herbs
1 1/4 cans water
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice
1 package Green Giant Antioxidant Blend vegetables
1 1/4 chicken breasts, pre-cooked plus whatever else I could pick from the carcass, diced small
1/2 cup shredded garlic Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan mozzarella blend
small handful fresh basil
some fresh-ground pepper

Whisk the soup and water together in an 11 x 8 x 2-inch baking dish, mix in rice, chicken, most of the garlic Cheddar, basil, pepper and frozen vegetables. If you're smarter than me, you break the vegetables up better before opening the bag. It's harder to break them up once they're in the soup. Top the rice mixture with the rest of the Cheddar and the Parm/mozz mix. Turn the oven on to 400 (hoping for eventual 375) and pop the whole mess in on a cookie sheet in case anything wants to bubble over.
Bake for 50 minutes or so.

All in all, this was tasty, but the rice was undercooked because I didn't preheat the oven. I should have upped the baking time. Alternatively, next time I could use a round casserole dish and partially pre-cook the rice in the microwave to cut the cooking time, given that I'm using pre-cooked chicken. Next time add more basil. Otherwise very worthwhile. Kudos, Minnesota.

ETA - 8/27 - Tried this again last night with pre-microwaving the rice for about 12 minutes. That works quite well (though I need to keep the water level lower so it doesn't boil over in the microwave next time) and the oven time can be reduced to 30 minutes, no problem -- could probably go less. Veg this time was the Roasted Red Potatoes, Green Beans & Rosemary Butter Sauce Steamers, and not worth seeking a repeat. Not actively bad, just too bland and starchy and not enough crunch or variety in the vegetables. But sometimes you cook with the vegetables you want, sometimes you cook with what you have in the freezer...

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

Sounds pretty good, though I date back to the era when Campbell's cream soup was pretty much limited to mushroom, and I'd have added some mushrooms, on General Principles -- or maybe just because I like them. My (undependable) childhood memory holds that these casserole dishes almost always had the major ingredients  -- macaroni, noodles, rice -- cooked in advance, and were brought only to a thorough boil in the oven (and a touch of browning on the top).

Thanks for reminding me to finish the casserole of macaroni & cheese I made day-before-yesterday, before it spoils. (It's the Traditional/One True/Kind Mom made version -- slightly short of kosher because there wasn't quite enough "Cheddar" to balance the three other cheeses ("Swiss", creamy Gorgonzola, and an unwisely-chosen Mexican varietal that remained a bit granular), but it worked ... okay, with two eggs per cup of milk, quant. suff. to cover the (cooked al dente) elbow macaroni.)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, when I have made somewhat similar things on the stovetop, and without the Campbell's soup and without the baking I have often pre-cooked the starch, but it isn't strictly necessary. In principle you can start with dry rice/noodles but you need to be sure you allow sufficient cooking time at the back end. The main advantage to starting with dry ingredients is that, in principle, you can minimize the number of cooking vessels that get dirty, and I try to be kind to Hal (who does the dishes) when I can. It cuts down on the grumbling.

You're right that the number of kinds of cream-of-whosis have proliferated over the years. Although there seems to have been some contraction, too. We used to make 'Fido' with a condensed Campbell's soup called Beefy Mushroom, which I liked a lot, but these days tend not to be able to find, at least not at my local market. I liked the Cream of Chicken with Herbs, though. Quite nice.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Ah, the "hot dish" with cream of whatziz! My mother feed 5 hungry kids on a limited budget with various Campbell's condensed soups. And I have a favourite comfort food I occasionally do for myself (although it's hard to find the Campbells over here any more), which is ground beef, onions, diced green peppers, c of mushroom, bouillion cube, water and fast-cooking rice. Brown the beef, onions and peppers, drain off the fat, add the bouillion cube and soup, water enough to make a soupy sauce and the instant rice. I call it "Goop".

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

We used to do a similar dish back in the days when I lived in a shared house called BTLE (Beyond the Leading Edge -- it was originally a household of current or former Caltech students). We called it "Fido". It originated when someone realized that it was silly to buy Hamburger Helper and then doctor it when you could just use noodles or rice and do the doctoring without the Helper.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I used to make a really good shepherd's pie as well with the hamburger and the cream of celery soup. It was gorgeous.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Huh. Interesting idea. I'll have to file that for the next time I'm thinking shepherd's pie.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

See if you can find a lovely book called "Scandinavian Humor and Other Myths", which I think is out of print but I found a few copies years ago on eBay. It really does well in explaining the immigrant thing in the wilds of Scandihoovia.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing it in younger days. Who knows, I might even own or have owned a copy once -- many boxes of books are still in the basement, as yet unpacked.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is not the only thing hot dish can be, but it is indeed one of the things hot dish can be.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

The ways of Minnesotans are exotic and unfamiliar to me, and I have clearly not grasped them fully, as yet.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

What I love about this entire affair is that you can pretty much throw anything into a casserole with cream-of-something and it gets called "hot dish," because apparently the most important thing--besides it being edible--is that it's hot and it's in a dish. It may never be the same thing twice, but it's hot and it's in a dish. The practicality of this does not escape me. Also? This all sounds rather tasty.

(I'm using my "Food" icon, but I may as well have used my "LOL" icon; both would have served, much like anything called "hot dish.")

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's particularly funny to me because it's just the opposite of the old legend about the Innuit and their supposed proliferation of terms for kinds of snow -- here you have a great variety of kinds of food, and it's all got the one name. Arguably it's a category identifier. What would be interesting is to explore at what points, if any 'hot dish' diverges from 'casserole'. I assume that all instances of hot dish are also instances of a casserole, but is the reverse true?

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Hot dish is actually very Scandihoovian (i.e. descendents of Swedes and Norwegians mostly) living in Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. Goes with the Luther League suppers and other such in the basement of Lutheran churches, along with lime jello on flimsy paper plates.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've gotten sketchy impressions of what the culture is from my various Scandosotan friends and acquaintances, plus periodic bouts of listening to Prairie Home Companion. It strikes me as funny, being raised mostly in California where basements are rare, that Lutheran church suppers are always, ALWAYS described as taking place in church basements. I don't recall ever seeing a church in California that even had a basement. Though, I confess my observation is nothing like exhaustive.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

However, "hot dish" is pretty much indistinguishable from "casserole" served in Iowa, both in private homes and in Catholic church basements after the funeral. But in an Iowa Catholic church basement, there must also be at least two varieties of "fluff."

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Qu'est-ce que ce ca 'fluff'?

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Basically, Jell-o whipped up with Dream Whip, with various additions such as canned fruit and miniature marshmallows. (One can use whipped cream instead of Dream Whip, but that's a bit uppity.)

To get an idea of the full spectrum, Google Jell-o fluff recipes.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, Jello Salad*, with added Cool Whip. Gotcher. Interesting how often cottage cheese seems to figure in the recipes I'm seeing.

*Not that I quite get Jello Salad, either -- is it Jello or is it a salad, 'cause I don't see how it can really be both -- but it is, at least, familiar. I don't think I really encountered it before Jr. High, because the lunch ladies at my elementary school did not go in for such atrocities, as best I recall. Grated carrots and marshmallows have no business in lime Jello, that's all I'm sayin'.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

Now, of course, you have me wondering about how I might adapt hot dish recipes to a Weight Watchers food regimen. I'd bet good cash money that there are any number of hot dish variations in the WW database. A quick search turns up 80 casserole dishes, but that takes us to the question of "If hot dish = casserole, does casserole = hot dish?" My bet would be that there's some disqualifier of which we are unaware that sits deep in hot dish lore and tradition. Not having been initiated into such mysteries, having grown up on Long Island which has its own, I have no real way to know. But I admit that curiosity has been ignited.

Oh dear. :-)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that one must be raised with hot dish from sprouthood to understand in ones bones its subtleties and particularities. Having been raised mostly in California after we moved from Sweden, I do not grok. But it made for a tasty supper, so I'm happy.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I have a number of feeding-the-family when you don't feel like it culinary secrets, one of which is an outrageous slow cooker recipe. First thing in the morning, put a lump of silverside or similar cheap cut of beef into your slow cooker, together with a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup and some dried onions (and mixed herbs if you like). Much later, eat it with a starch of your choice. It's a close relative of Dungeon Crawling Pork, where you do the same thing with a lump of pork rubbed with Cajun spice and put in the slow cooker with a can of root beer and half a cup of barbecue sauce. That one is best eaten with bread and coleslaw or remoulade, so even easier. (It's called Dungeon Crawling Pork because slow cooking is supposed to be so that busy families can come home to a cooked meal... but in this case the first time I cooked it I was home all day, but had just bought Diablo III).

Both of these are completely delicious but you wouldn't want to eat them too often.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Both recipes sound nicely simple, and I do like the reason for calling it Dungeon Crawling Pork, even if the name does summon images of animated joints of ham slogging through the rat and slime-infested lower levels of someplace unpleasant. If I had young teenage boys I would totally serve that. As it is, I might try slow-cooked barbecue pork some time...:)