“The greatest single boon for the busy hostess is the casserole,” says author Myra Waldo. I’m afraid I’d have to disagree with that. It’s a pretty strong statement! But casseroles, like the crockpot, are certainly useful for starting your main dish early and then getting on with other things--like talking to your guests.
The front cover claims 170 “ingenious” recipes; they cover: Fish and Seafood; Poultry; Meat; and Vegetable. It was published in 1963.
There are a wide variety of cultures represented. If you look in the index, the first five recipes listed are Abbacchio pasticciare, Adobo, Agneau, Ahiaco de gallina, and Ajam boomboo roldjak. These are lamb casserole, Philippine chicken and pork casserole, French lamb stew, chicken soup, and Indian spiced chicken.
There are some that I would consider odd, such as “lettuce casserole”. An odd variation on cooked coleslaw, with lettuce instead of cabbage.
The ethnic recipes are fairly interesting. “Plaki”, or Greek Fish Casserole, for example; potatoes, olives, mackerel. Spanish Chick Pea Casserole, “Cazuela de Garbanzos”, with pork, green peppers, sausage, and tomatoes, as well as the title ingredient, garbanzo beans. There are a lot of potatoes in these recipes, and a lot of tomatoes, and quite a few with both.
Even though they’re all casseroles, some are very dessert-like, as in the Sweet Potato and Cranberry Casserole, calling for orange juice, maple syrup, cranberry sauce, ginger, and butter (as well as sweet potatoes). Well, “some” is misleading; the only other dessert-like recipe is one other sweet potato casserole.
Cooking times range from half an hour to two or three hours.
As a bonus, they’re fairly easily converted to crockpot cooking (just half the recipes and multiply the cooking time by about 3 to 4).
Too many of them call for “frozen mixed vegetables”. No indication of which vegetables should be in the medley, just as long as they’re “frozen”...
This is a vaguely useful book, but I find it hard to really get excited about the recipes. They’re nice casseroles, but a whole book of them? If that excites you, well, get the book. If not, it’s worth it if you see it for 30 cents at a library book sale!
Sample: Herring and Potato Casserole6 salt herring fillets, 2 cups milk, 4 tblsp sweet butter, 4 peeled sliced and boiled potatoes, 1 1/2 cups sliced onions, 2 tblsp dry bread crumbs Wash the herring, soak 4 hours in milk, drain and cut into 1-inch pieces; melt 1 tblsp butter in casserole; arrange layers of potatoes, herring, and onions, starting and ending with potatoes; sprinkle with bread crumbs and dot with remaining butter; bake 400 degrees Fahrenheit 25 minutes; serves 6-8. | ||
| Cost: $0.30 at a library book sale | Rating: Pretty bland. | Publisher: Collier Books |
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