The  following excerpt is taken from Shannon Hayes’ newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lover’s Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously.

When I was in graduate school, I had the wonderful opportunity to interview school food service directors from around New York State. My most memorable conversation was with 70 year old Rosie, one of my own favorite lunch ladies who I’d seen daily during my years as a student at Cobleskill Central School. Rosie’s institutional memory was long. She’d learned to cook in the 1930s and ‘40s, and she recounted the lunches she prepared for students during the 1940s and ‘50s, made from whatever ingredients the local farmers had brought by the cafeteria that week. “We cooked from scratch from what we got,” she explained, “soups, stews, casseroles,” and with that, she stopped abruptly. “Kids, today, they don’t even know what a casserole is.”

A budding home cook at the time, I dared not admit to my own ignorance. I knew nothing about casseroles, except that they were something thrown together with a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, as described in countless jokes about Midwestern church ladies. But Rosie was right: the casserole, once a cornerstone in American cookery, was slowly being forgotten.

We take the name casserole from the French word used to describe the style of baking dish the meal requires, but casseroles can be found in cuisines throughout the world, including Moroccan tagines, Osso Bucco, Thai curries, coq au vin, and chili con carne. Many casseroles were traditionally poverty food, which explains why they became so popular in the United States during the Great Depression. They were a way, according to The American Woman’s Cookbook“to use leftovers in attractive, palatable combinations, to cook tough meats tender, and to prepare vegetables in an almost unlimited variety of ways.”

The introduction of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup in 1934 coincided with the casserole’s rise in the 1950’s, the Golden Era of consumption. Casserole recipes featuring condensed canned soup (essentially a rue base) became instrumental in a movement to free housewives from the perceived drudgery of the kitchen, and to help clear the runway for our modern industrialized food system.

Once our multinational food corporations came up with even more industrialized and processed food products, the lowly casserole lost her cultural foothold. But I think she deserves a comeback.

To have a truly sustainable cuisine, we must do more than learn to properly cook a pork roast, grill a grassfed steak or find a recipe for kohlrabi and rutabagas. We need to learn to be less wasteful with our food, to be thrifty and resourceful, and to make use of every ounce of nutrition our local bounty offers. And here is where the humble casserole shows her truest glory. Casseroles extend servings of our grassfed meats, they make use of whatever vegetables we might have from our local farmers, and best of all, they incorporate meat and vegetable into a sauce made highly nutritious with mineral-rich, digestible and delicious homemade stock.

Adelle Davis simplifies the process for turning any remaining fridge forage into a feast with this most essential culinary caveat:

“Casserole dishes must depend upon the ingredients you have on hand.” That said, the remaining steps to assembling a casserole are very simple.

Prepare any cream sauce, brown sauce (gravy) or tomato sauce (preferably using bone broth as the base)
2. Add vegetables and leftover meat and a starch (optional)brbr
3. Top with crumbs (or nuts) and/or cheese and/or mashed potatoesbrbr
4. Bake

ppBelow are two recipes for simple casseroles. Remember Adelle Davis’ principles as you approach them, for nearly every ingredient can be substituted with something else. The leftover chicken could be leftover turkey, the beef could be lamb or pork. The vegetables can be what you have on hand, the cheddar can be substituted with parmesan and vice versa (or with something else entirely….or left out all together), perhaps add some bacon or olives if you have them on hand. Work with what you have. What I have written is just a suggestion – a little something to make Rosie proud.

Sources:

Berolzheimer, Ruth. (1944). The American Woman’s Cookbook. The Blakiston Co. Philadelphia.

Davis, Adelle. (1947). Let’s Cook it Right. Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. New York.

Shepherd’s Pie

This recipe is taken from Shannon Hayes’ newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lover’s Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously.

This one is a favorite in our house. It is simple, comforting, nourishing, flavorful, and we all clamor for the leftovers.

Serves 6

For the mashed-potato topping:

2 pounds coarsely chopped potatoes

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

½ cup whole milk or cream

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon coarse salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

For the filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, lard, or olive oil, plus more, if needed

2 medium onions, diced

4 medium carrots, diced

2 cups green beans, coarsely chopped

1 cup corn (or peas, or a combination of both)

2 pounds ground beef

1½ teaspoons coarse salt, plus more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or 3 tablespoons arrowroot whisked into 3 tablespoons ice water)

1 quart meat broth

4 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Put the potatoes in a pot of water to cover and bring to a boil. Cook until tender and drain off all the water. Alternatively, put the potatoes in a pressure cooker with 8 ounces of water and cook for 7 minutes at 15 psi. Allow the pressure to subside using the natural release method, following the manufacturer’s directions. Strain off the water.

Put the potatoes in a large bowl. Add the butter, milk, garlic, salt, pepper, and smash thoroughly, until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Place a large ovenproof casserole over medium heat, Add the butter and onions, carrots, green beans and any other vegetables you choose. Sauté until the onions are clear and the vegetables crisp-tender, about 7 minutes. Remove all to a separate bowl.

Crumble the ground beef and add to the casserole, season with the salt and pepper (add more fat to the pot if needed), and sauté until browned. Sprinkle in the flour, and slowly stir in the broth. (If using arrowroot and water, add it now.)Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often, and then reduce it to a simmer and cook until thickened. Return the vegetables to the casserole, stir well, and taste for salt and pepper.

Remove the casserole from the heat. Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and bake until the surface of the potato topping is lightly browned, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Chicken (or turkey) Divan

This recipe is taken from Shannon Hayes’ newest book, Long Way on a Little: An Earth Lover’s Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously.

This dish was always one of my personal “comfort foods.” I remember my mom preparing it for us when we were kids. It was a one-dish dinner, so we were able to balance our bowls in our laps and sit beside the woodstove while we ate. Unlike typical Divan recipes, there is not a can of cream of mushroom soup anywhere to be found!

Serves 6

1 pound lightly steamed broccoli, asparagus or green beans

2-3 cups diced cooked leftover chicken or turkey

1 cup shredded cheddar, Parmesan, or Gruyere, or a combination

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons almond flour (or another flour of your choosing)

2 cups meat broth

2 teaspoons lemon juice

½ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons sherry

Coarse salt and ground black pepper, to taste

2 eggs

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ cup coarsely ground walnuts (or breadcrumbs)

1 tablespoon dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350° F. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and arrange the vegetables on the bottom. Top with the chicken and then the cheese.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until it browns, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth, followed by the lemon juice. Simmer 10 minutes and stir in the cream and sherry. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Break the eggs into a bowl, add the mustard, and beat until smooth. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle 1 cup of the hot sauce into the eggs to temper them. Add them to the remaining sauce, mix well, and pour it over the chicken and vegetables.

Heat the remaining butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the ground walnuts and parsley, then sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake until heated through and the nuts are lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Shannon Hayes works with her family raising grassfed meats in Upstate New York. She is the author of four books, including The Grassfed Gourmet, The Farmer and the Grill, Radical Homemakers.  Her latest book is Long Way on Little: An Earth Lover’s Companion for Enjoying Meat, Pinching Pennies and Living Deliciously.

 

Sources:

Berolzheimer, Ruth. (1944). The American Woman’s Cookbook. The Blakiston Co. Philadelphia.

Davis, Adelle. (1947). Let’s Cook it Right. Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. New York.