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Sometimes I’m looking for something warm and comforting but I really don’t want to cook. This baked dish combines the savory delight of a cheeseburger with the total comfort of a bowl of macaroni and cheese. And it’s easy!

What’s in the casserole?

This dish is made with ground beef, onion, pasta, spices, cream of bacon soup and cheese – lots of cheese.

I know you’re thinking, what? cream of bacon? Yep. It’s by Campbells and it’s new – and it really has bacon in it!!

But if you can’t find it or don’t want the bacon, cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, or even cheddar cheese soup will work.

Be creative! It’s your meal.

What Makes it Comfort Food?

Mac and cheese is a classic comfort food. And a big, juicy cheeseburger fits the bill every time.

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Mixing the two makes it extra comfort!

Making the baked casserole – 

Cook your pasta first. Once it’s done, drain it, but save 1/4 cup of the water. Set aside.

Next brown the beef in a large, ovenproof skillet.

Crumble the beef an put it into the hot skillet. Cook it until it is almost all browned.

Place the minced onion, lemon pepper, and salt on the top. Stir well.

Stir in the soup and pasta water. Mix it well.

Stir in 1 cup of the cheddar. When it’s well mixed, add more salt and pepper to taste.

Top it with the remaining cheddar and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The top will be bubbly and a little bit browned.

Serve hot and enjoy!

 

© Copyright 2024 The Lazy Gastronome

Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

This dish is full of spicy flavors with just a little heat. It’s all in one bowl ^[6], but make plenty. You will want seconds!

How to make any recipe easy to prepare – 

I love easy. When it’s time to cook dinner, I’m usually tired and I want to get it cooked and eat! Here are some tips to make any recipe easy to prepare.

Start with prepping. If you have everything precut and premeasured, all you’ll need to do is add to the pan and some cook time. You can do this in the morning or even the night before.

Cut up all the vegetables and put them in a container – you can just dump them into the pan when you need them. Measure out all the seasonings and set them in a bowl, using a different bowl for each step. If it all goes in on one step, put them together. If they go in on a different step, keep them separate.

Here are the prep specifics for this recipe:

Cut up the carrots, white onion, and jalapeño. To make it really spicy, leave the seeds in! Put them together in a large bowl. Add the garlic, ginger and whites of the green onions. Cover and set aside.

In another, small bowl, mix the ponzu, honey, and water. Cover and set aside.

And finally, chop the peanuts.

You now have everything prepped. Only thing left is to cook it!

Making the Spicy Chicken Rice Bowls – 

Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken.

Add the oil to a large skillet and start heating on medium-high to high. While the oil is heating, get the rice going. I use my trusty little rice cooker.

When the oil is hot and sizzling, carefully lay the chicken, skin side down, into the hot oil. Cook until it’s golden brown, about 5 minutes,

then turn. Allow to cook for about five more minutes.

Push the chicken to the side and add the vegetables. Gently sauté until they start to sweat a little, about 3 to 4 minutes, until they begin to caramelize.

Turn the chicken so it’s skin side up.

Use the sherry to deglaze the pan, stirring constantly.

Next, pour the ponzu mixture into the pan and stir to coat all the veggies. Bring it all to a boil, add the lime and peanuts, then cover and simmer on medium for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Mix the cornstarch with about 3 Tablespoons of the liquid in the pan. Pour into vegetables and stir quickly to blend the mixture and thicken the sauce.

Serve over rice and garnish with the green part of the green onions.

© Copyright 2024 The Lazy Gastronome

Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

  Christmas in Poland is full of tradition – and food!! The celebration starts on Christmas eve and continues for three days.

Christmas in Poland

Christmas Eve -Wigilia – kicks off the holiday! It is the most important day of the three day celebrations and is always spent with family and friends.

Traditionally, the meal, called Kolacja wigilijna, was meatless except for fish. There are twelve dishes, one for each of the twelve apostles. An extra chair is always at the table, symbolizing there is room for all. The people of Poland believe that no one should be left alone on Christmas and there is always a place at their table.

While the meal is cooking, the children watch the sky.  When the first star is seen, the meal begins! Everyone has to have a little bit of every dish to ensure good fortune in the year to come. And those dishes always included barszcz (a beetroot soup), carp, herring, pierogi, sauerkraut and poppy seed cake.

Bigos is a popular dish on Christmas, but for those sticking to the meatless tradition,here is another version. The Christmas Eve version is made with wild mushrooms and cabbage.

Christmas day and the day after offers even more feasting.

Where did Bigos come from?

Some say a woman in the countryside created it to use leftovers from the Christmas feasts. Now it’s popular to take the ingredients on hunting trips (why it’s called Hunter’s Stew ^[11]) to add the game meat and cook up by the campfire. Today it’s one of the most popular dishes in Poland. And it’s on most tables at Christmas.

Bigos is made of a variety of meats and sausage and various vegetables and can be eaten hot or cold, delicious any time of year!

How to Make Bigos (Hunter’s Stew)

This dish takes a while, but the longer it cooks, the more the flavors are enhanced.

First, soak the porcinis in 1/2 cup of hot water for 1 to 2 hours to rehydrate them. Chop them coarsely. Save the liquid!

Place the juniper, cumin, peppercorns and caraway in a pestle and crush the seeds with the mortar.

In a heavy kettle, heat the bacon fat on medium-high. Add the spices and saute until they are fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Cut the pork into chunks – add it and the chicken thighs to the kettle to brown them.

Add the onion, cabbage, mushrooms, prunes  and tomato paste. Gently cook for about 5 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of water, the mushroom water, paprika and dried marjoram. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Next, put the kielbasa, ham hock and pilsner in the pot. Bring it to a boil, then cover and cook on low for about an hour.

Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool. When it’s cool enough to handle, strip the meat from the bones and add it back to the pot.

Next, stir in the sauerkraut and simmer for another 1 to 2 hours.

Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with mashed potatoes.

You can have this stew any time of year – hot or cold!

Copyright 2023 Lazy Gastronome

 

Wesołych Świąt  – Merry Christmas

Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts

I’m trying to eat less meat and I went a month without dairy. And I wanted lasagna ^[16]!! I’ve used maitake mushrooms in other dishes, so I thought I’d give them a try in the sauce. But the cheese – what about the cheese. I bought some shredded vegan mozzarella at Trader Joe – but I couldn’t find any ricotta – or anything close!

Here is my first attempt at vegan lasagna, and it turned out quite good!

Making vegan “ricotta” – 

Put all the ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Process it until it’s smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. This can be made up to a day before. Taste it and adjust the salt and pepper, even the yeast to your preference.

Prepare the Sauce  –

Prepare the ingredients. I like to have everything cut and measured before I start.

Then I can simply make the sauce. I used leftover portobellos, so they were cooked. If you are starting with raw, stem or sauté if first.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet.

Over medium-high heat, sauté the garlic, mushrooms, and carrots until the mushrooms are starting to soften. Stir in the salt and pepper. Again, adjust to your tastes.

Make the basil ribbons – Roll the fennel leaves lengthwise, then slice the roll. When it comes undone, you will have short ribbons.

For the fennel – heat a dry, cast iron skillet on high. When it’s good and hot, put the whole seeds in and shake it back and forth until the fennel becomes fragrant. Pour it into a mortar. Using the pestle, grind the seeds into a chunky powder.

Now, add the basil, oregano, fennel, red pepper and onion powder to the sauce. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the tomatoes have started to caramelize and darken, adding water as needed.

The sauce should be a little bit runny so it won’t dry out during baking.

Building the Lasagna – 

Spray the bottom and sides of a 2 quart, oblong or rectangle casserole dish with olive oil.

Spread about 1/8 cup of the sauce onto the bottom.

Lay 1/2 of the pasta on the bottom. Spread 1/2 of the sauce,

then 1/2 of the ricotta on to the pasta. Top with 1/2 of the shredded mozzarella.

Do a second layer of the same. Top with the parmesan and sprinkle the olive oil over the top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 40 minutes. Turn heat up to 450 degrees and bake ten more minutes. The top should be browned and the sides bubbly and oozing. Please note – the mozzarella will not melt. It will brown lightly and be soft, but you will not get oozy cheese. But it still tastes great!

Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot with some garlic toast!

© Copyright 2023 The Lazy Gastronome

Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I love homemade chicken noodle soup ^[21]. The richness of the broth made with fresh vegetables and chicken – the comfort of the noodles – I love it all. So why not make a casserole instead of soup? So I did!

The chicken is cooked to create a rich stock for the noodles to cook in. Then everything is mixed together and baked until a creamy sauce.  The skin can be placed on the top to crisp up on top. This adds some flavor to the casserole as well. You can eat the skin or toss it (but we eat it).

Here’s how you do it:

This first thing is to cook the chicken and create the stock.

Add the chicken, onion, celery, garlic, 2 sprigs of the rosemary and salt to 5 cups of water. Bring it all to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Lift the thighs out of the water with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.

Bring the water back to a boil and cook the pasta in the water. It should be al dente. When you drain the pasta, keep all the vegetables  (discard the sage and rosemary) and save out 1/3 cup of the pasta water. You can freeze the rest to use later as a soup or gravy base.

Remove the skin from the chicken and set it aside. Take all the meat off the bones and chop it into bite sized pieces. Discard the bones.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the chicken with the remaining ingredients (except the rosemary) and the pasta water, adding salt and pepper to taste (we like lots of pepper – preferably fresh cracked).

Put the mixture into a casserole dish. Top with the parmesan,

two sprigs of rosemary, and the chicken skin.

Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes – until the top is lightly browned and the chicken skin is crispy.

Discard the rosemary

and serve. We like the skin so we ate it – you can discard it if you choose.

© Copyright 2022 The Lazy Gastronome

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