I ask, because my nominee is in the oven right now.
In our house it was called “Chicken with Crumbs.” Mom’s peers called it “Londoff Chicken,” which could be an homage to Johnny Londoff’s Saint Louis car dealerships. I know it wasn’t local; it must have been printed on Pepperidge Farm stuffing bags.
Layer chicken breasts, swiss cheese, cream of chicken soup, Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing, and melted butter. Bake at 350, and I didn’t even have to look that up because every casserole bakes at 350, it is the RULE.
The key to the recipe is the butter delivery system: the stuffing, or “dressing,” or crumbs. Once we had a special dinner of “Chicken with Crumbs” served with “Green Beans with Crumbs” with a side of “Crumbs.”
Now, others may say the tuna-noodle casserole with the “croute” of potato chips is the ultimate casserole, yet think of how many people don’t like fish. (And I think we can all agree, we are talking the classic tuna-noodle casserole: egg noodles, can of tuna, can of cream of mushroom soup, topped with potato chips. This is the standard.)
Chicken with Crumbs has this Queen’s Royal Warrant as the ultimate casserole. It says “suburbs!” What do you think? What would you nominate?
P.S. I define “casserole” as something mixed with something, maybe some other somethings, plus Campbell’s Cream of Something soup, that you then bake at 350. Mac and Cheese with hot dogs cut up in it? Not a casserole.
21 responses to “Question for today: What is the Ultimate Casserole?”
I would just like to point out to certain people who shall remain nameless that nowhere in your definition of tuna casserole does it include cottage cheese. Who on earth decided fish and curdled milk go together? Quite frankly, they’re gross enough on their own, but together they make one of the most disgusting meals ever.End rant.The casserole above looks delicious.
Can I have that recipe for real???Did you see my taco casserole?? IT ROCKED!
I’m not sure if it’s the ‘ultimate’ casserole, but I’m for sure making it tonight. It sounds easy (my main requirement) and good.
I was making a note of the ingredients (sounds like a good one-person winter meal), titled it “The Queen’s Chicken Casserole”, but I hit Ctrl instead of Shift on the last two words, and got “The Queen’s hicken asserole”.
I liked it. I left it that way.
LOL @ Silk!
Shredded rotisserie chicken, top with a bag of mixed veggies, top with cream of chicken soup thinned with chicken broth. Mix bisquick with milk and an egg or two, pour on the top.
Bake at 350 until brown and bubbly.
Chicken pot pie!
My tuna casserole has (already “cooked”)Kraft Mac ‘n’ Cheese in it instead of egg noodles, but the rest is the same, especially the Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup part. I just like the extra cheesiness. I think that might be dinner.
It must be casserole day…I have the classic (well, almost, farfalle instead of egg noodles) in the oven as I type. That Chicken with Crumbs looks mighty tasty.
While that does look quite tasty, it’s not the ultimate casserole. That title goes to Picnic Potatoes, aka heart-attack-inna-bowl. See here: http://curmudgeonette.blogspot.com/2008/07/jammiesfest-cookbook.html and scroll down for the recipe. To make it a main dish, I just cube some ham and toss it over the top of the casserole before putting on the parmesan and baking.
Caroline – Gross, but on a related item I just heard of a recipe for lasagna that got around the noodle / ricotta challenge by using cheese ravioli as the noodles..75 – You can play with this:8 boneless skinless chicken breasts8 slices Swiss cheese2 cans cream of chicken soupSmall blue bag Pepperidge Farm herb dressing 1/2c. butter or margarine, meltedLayer in order in 9 X 13 greased dish. Drizzle with butter and bake at 350 degrees.Shania (et al.) – it sounds like you didn’t already know about this recipe! I really thought everyone would know this as well as the tuna recipe.~Silk – SerendipitySurprising Woman – Pot Pie without Peas? Fabulous.Tami – I don’t know if I can wrap my head around mac and cheese with tuna, but that might be because we always added the small box of Velveeta to our M&C. Those tastes would not match.Kristie – now you all are making me want tuna casserole. Only I want it with Brocolli and Cheese soup – I am always a little bothered by the tiny mushrooms combined with the tuna – I always felt the mushrooms might be tiny fish eyes.Jammies – Oh! I thought at first it sounded a little like that weird cereal and pork chop recipe that went around for a while, but no, yours sounds better.
Having swum with tuna I can say with authority that tuna eyes are BIG and could never be confused with tiny mushrooms. Button mushrooms, yes. Also, their teeth are sharp and their aim is not good when snatching pilchards from fingers. One day, you might need to know that.
All – The Big Dot translation service says “sardines.”
What is the noodle/ricotta issue? I make issue-free lasagna.
Cereal and pork chop recipe? Hmpf. I’d have thought that you would have thought better of me. Hmpf!
Caroline – I don’t know first-hand since I’ve never made lasagna, Put I understand that it is difficult to spread the riccotta over the bottom layer of noodles without tearing or pushing them askew.Jammies – has anyone ever even had the cereal and porkchop recipe? I never have.
The hands-down winner casserole chez nous is four-cheese and vegetable terrine. It sounds fancy, and it looks and tastes a liiiiiittle bit fancy, but it’s made with leftovers from a favorite dinner tarted up with scrids and scrads of fridge staples.
It takes:
– a leftover batch of penne with mushrooms and chard, which is a favorite dinner for us
– a cream sauce with sherry and garlic
– any leftover vegetables I have on hand, which usually turns out to be blanched broccoli
– a sprinkle of whatever cheese is left in the house — usually a mixture of parmesan, mozzarella, and Swiss or cheddar — and if there’s leftover ricotta, throw that in, too
– breadcrumbs tossed with olive oil and paprika, or make crumbs from the garlic bread that we served with the penne
– bake at whatever until it bubbles, and maybe roast some winter vegetables to serve alongside
– serve and listen to people say OH MY GOD THIS IS GOOD.
I make a no boil lasagna. Much, much easier.
Elsa – See, you have these “staples” in the fridge: leftover penne, cream, sherry garlic, blanched brocolli, hard cheese, ricotta, breadcrumbs and winter vegetables. Of those things, I have … garlic and hard cheese. However, tonight I thought of your comment when I microwaved the bag of potatoes and broccoli and frozen pasta sauce “chips.”Caroline – Huh. I never make lasagna. Hate the stuff. It’s what my family ate when we were hard up for cash. I don’t think there was much to it besides ground beef, tomatoes, noodles, and cottage cheese.
Cottage cheese? No wonder you hate it.Pick up a box of RF Lasagna noodles. Follow the no boil recipe on it..75 will happily take the leftovers if you get tired of it.
Nope still no crunch. Still need some crunch.
I’ll top your suburban chicken with crumbs with small town funeral potatoes made with low fat sour cream and cheese whiz.The mourners cleaned that shit out.
Hot Mom – Well, it goes well with ham. Wasn’t there ham?