Category: Casseroles

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Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole

Butternut Squash Enchilada Casserole

1 T olive oil
1 butternut squash (1½ lb.), halved and seeded
1 medium sweet onion, diced (1 cup)
1 4.5 ounce can diced green chiles
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp. )
3 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
Enchilada sauce (homemade or canned)
8-12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place squash cut-side down on baking sheet. Roast 45 minutes, or until soft. Allow to cool, scoop into a bowl and mash.

2. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and sauté until soft. Add chiles and garlic. Cook 1 minute.

3. Stir in mashed squash, cream cheese, cumin, and nutmeg. Turn the heat off and mix well.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread 1 cup enchilada sauce over bottom of 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Layer tortillas followed by the squash mixture, then cheddar cheese. Repeat, ending with cheddar cheese as your final layer on top. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the sides start bubbling and the cheese is melted and gooey.

5. Serve with your usual Tex-Mex sides and condiments. Extra cheese, sour cream, sliced avocado, green onions, jalepeno peppers, salsa, chips, beans, rice. Or a side salad works too but not as satisfying.

I sometimes forget this blog is about recipes.  I get off on a tangent like mislabeled seafood or nasty who knows what’s in them chicken nuggets from China.  FOCUS!  It’s about the food, the recipes, and the memories.  A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I used to make a squash enchilada  casserole when fall rolled around and the hard squashes started appearing in the market.  I was always amazed at how tasty this dish was without any meat in it.  Like all great family recipes this one exhibits the following classic characteristics.

The kids didn’t like it when they were little and I never wrote the recipe down.  I’m sure if I wanted to waste an hour or two I could find the original recipe yellowed and faded, taped to a 3 x 5 card somewhere.  I also know that when I find the original recipe it won’t be how I make it now.  Why bother looking? I do recall the original recipe called for some cooked potato added to the squash mixture.  I also recall the original did not have green chilies in it.  So here you go. This recipe is from memory.  I hope it tastes good.

I can’t believe this is my 100th post.

TIPS

 If you like (or need) an extra kick, sub a heartier pepper for the green chilies.  Need protein?  Add a can of black beans, rinsed and drained, to the middle layer of the casserole.  Monterrey Jack would be a nice sub for the cheddar.  Or Smokey Chipotle Cheddar might work too.  (I have a chunk of this in the fridge and it’s looking for a recipe).  But most of all, have some fun with this recipe.

Update 11.17.14

I know, two days after posting and I’m making changes already.  Step 4 –  for the middle layers, tortillas, squash mixture, cheddar cheese, repeat.  No enchilada sauce.  The red sauce goes only on the bottom of the pan and on the top layer of tortillas.  The final layer is tortillas, enchilada sauce, and shredded Monterrey jack cheese.  Yellow corn tortillas are fine but I used white corn tortillas.  I only needed ten tortillas.  You’ll get eight generous servings from this casserole.  I made some quick enchilada sauce with a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes and some chicken stock.  You can leave out the chicken stock if you’re a picky vegetarian.  You can leave the cheese off too but I won’t take any responsibility for how your casserole turns out.

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Squash Casserole – The Final Update 2022

Note the 12.21.18 update below from someone who shall remain unnamed. Now that the cracker brand issue has been settled, the rest of this post is the original post.

Life can be funny sometimes.  Every year the Thanksgiving menu never changes.  There was the occasional occasion where someone in the family said,

This is getting boring.  Time to change things up.

So a new dish gets introduced.  Everyone proclaims how delicious the new dish is but somehow the new dish is never to be seen again at Thanksgiving.  It took us a while to figure out but finally we figured out that boring was good.  And I’m not saying this squash casserole is boring.  You just have a tendency to forget how good it is.

So here’s to Thanksgiving with the same menu, the same people and one hell of a squash casserole.

  • 2 lbs yellow squash, rough sliced to 1/2 inch thickness
  • 1 medium sweet yellow onion, sliced
  • 3/4 C cracker crumbs (Keebler Townhouse)
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 2 C cheddar cheese, shredded
  1. Place the squash in a sauce pot with about an inch of water.  Bring to a boil, cover, lower the heat, and steam until just cooked through.  Drain, mash with a potato masher to a rough mash and set aside to cool.
  2. In a separate pan, saute the onion in butter until soft.
  3. Grease an oblong baking dish big enough to hold the squash (butter is better).
  4. Combine the eggs, 1 cup of the cheese, cracker crumbs, onions, and squash.  Mix well and place into the baking dish.
  5. Cover with the remaining cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes until the cheese is browned and the sides are bubbly.
  6. Let the casserole sit for 10-15 minutes to firm up.  Serve warm.

The other day we got some squash from our relatives to be in Claremore, OK.  The instant The Boss saw these beautiful vegetables she said,

Make squash casserole.  Grill chicken.  Make a salad.

Yes Dear.

Notes – butter is better.  More butter is more better.  Salt and pepper to taste, but you really don’t need much of either.  Use cheddar to your personal taste.  I like sharp cheddar.  But I used what was already open in the fridge and I cannot tell you the sharpness.  Cracker crumbs – some Southerners swear by Ritz crackers.  I used plain saltines and they worked just fine.

Credits – Aunt Kathy.

Update 12.21.18

“The recipe doesn’t say Ritz crackers.”

“But we’ve always used Ritz crackers.”

Cracker crumbs, bread crumbs all the same to me.  I’ve used plain saltines.  No one complained.  This time I used panko.  Think of the flavor profile.  Ritz will add a touch of sweetness to the squash.  Plain saltines or panko will add plainness.  Take your pick!

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One Rotisserie Chicken, 50 Meals – #7 Sandi’s Memaw’s Chicken Spaghetti

Sandi’s Memaw’s Chicken Spaghetti

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 C chicken stock

1 T chopped parsley

1 whole onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Pinch each, basil and thyme

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 rotisserie chicken, de-boned and diced

1 lb mushrooms rinsed and sliced

2 T flour

1 C cream

1/4 lb grated cheese, Monterrey Jack and Parmesan

1 lb Spaghetti

2 T Butter

  1. In a medium stock pot simmer tomatoes and chicken stock until reduced by half.
  2. Add parsley, onion, garlic, basil, thyme, Worcestershire, and chicken.
  3. In a separate pan saute the mushrooms in butter.  Stir in flour, cream, and cheese.  Add to chicken/tomato mixture.
  4. Cook spaghetti until al dente.  Drain and combine with the sauce.
  5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

 

When you want a tasty baked pasta dish that’s not exactly Italian try this recipe.  The origin of this recipe is as interesting as the dish itself.   Sandi is one of my wife’s childhood friends.  Sandi called her grandmother “Memaw”.  Hence, this is Sandi’s grandmother’s recipe.  Over the years this pasta supper was made with minor variations.  I’ve always substituted half and half for the cream.  But if your intention is for a creamier dish, go for the cream.  Different pasta shapes work well too.  Don’t just limit yourself to spaghetti.  Be generous with the cheese quantity also.

 

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Scalloped Potatoes

4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
Half cup diced sweet onion
Half stick butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
Dash salt and pepper
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
4 slices American cheese

  1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Saute onions until translucent.
  2. Add flour to create a roux.  Add milk slowly, stirring continuously.  Add salt, pepper, one cup of the cheddar cheese and all of the American cheese.  Simmer briefly until all of the cheeses have melted and you have a smooth sauce.  Remove from heat.
  3. Preheat oven to 350.
  4. Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the potatoes.  Alternate layers of potatoes and sauce, ending with a layer of sauce on top.
  5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
  6. After 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and bake uncovered for another 45 minutes.
  7. During the last five minutes, sprinkle the remaining cup of cheddar cheese on top of the casserole.
  8. Remove from oven and let set for at least 15 minutes prior to serving.

 

Simple is good and super simple is better.  Recipes for Scalloped Potatoes are all pretty much the same.  Potatoes, butter, cheese, milk, bake.  But when you get compliments on the potatoes, you put the recipe on the blog to hopefully answer the question:

“So what do you do differently?”

After thinking about the question and  looking a few other recipes, the answer is not much.  (but I think it’s the half stick of butter).

TIPS – slice the potatoes as thin as possible, 1/4 inch is good.  Sauce up every layer of potatoes.  Use a high quality extra sharp cheddar cheese.  Butter, not margarine.

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One Rotisserire Chicken, 50 Meals – #3 Sour Cream Chicken Enchillada Casserole

Updated 10.13.13

Son:  “Whenever I make one of your recipes it never quite turns out the same.”

Me:    “So?”

Recipes change with time and repeated preparations.  So when the usual crew showed up to to be fed this weekend I made a conscious effort to pay attention to what I was doing and the quantities while making this dish.  Sure enough, quite a few things were different from the original recipe.  The changes are in bold.  The original recipe is in the cookbook mentioned below.  But you don’t want the original recipe.  You want this one.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole

1/4 C butter
2 T. flour
2 C. sour cream
3 C. chicken broth
1 small can mild green chiles
1 medium onion, chopped

Saute onions in butter, add flour then broth.  Cook over medium heat until thickened.  Add chiles and sour cream and heat.  Be careful to not let the sauce boil.  Set aside.

One rotisserie  chicken, meat taken off the bones, cubed
 8 oz cheddar cheese, 8 oz Monterrey Jack cheese grated
18 corn tortillas

1.  Butter  a 9 x 12 casserole dish.

2.  Put a little sauce in the bottom of the dish.

3.  Layer 3 corn tortillas.  Layer chicken.  Cover with jack cheese.  Sauce.  Repeat two more times.

4.  Bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes covered until bubbly.  Remove cover, add cheddar cheese to the top.  Return to the oven to allow cheese to melt.

5.  After cheese has melted, remove from the oven and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.

 

And yet another recipe whose origin is kind of fuzzy.  I think this recipe kind of morphed from Delicioso! Cooking South Texas Style.  But when I go to the book, the recipe is different, calling for Monterrey jack cheese and jalapenos.  If this is the source of the recipe, then somewhere along the Path I subbed mild chiles and cheddar.  But pretty much the recipe is from this classic cookbook.

Tips – Cut up the chicken first.  If you use pre-shredded cheese make sure it the kind that will melt (if you know what I mean and I think you do).  Use more sour cream if you like a rich casserole.  Use more chicken stock if you like your casserole “juicy” as in fall apart and spread all over your plate “juicy”.  Go ahead and use the hot pepper of your choice if you don’t have kids.

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