YumSugar

Off to Market Recap: Casserole Dish

partysugar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 06:45:52 -0800

When I made lasagna, I was horrified to realize I don't own a large casserole dish. I ended up having to make the lasagna in two pie dishes. To avoid this situation in the future, I asked you to help me find a casserole dish. You headed off to market in search of a large, oven- and dishwasher-safe serving vessel that can hold everything from potato gratin to white chocolate brownies. You saved the dishes in the Yum Market on TeamSugar with the keyword tag, Casserole Dish.

I'm madly in love with this Le Creuset casserole set in Caribbean blue. Aimeeb discovered this two-piece set that comes with 12-inch rectangular and 9-inch square baking dishes. It's on sale, which means I'll be able to afford it! Browse all the baking dishes you bookmarked below.

Geeksugar has put together an article that explains how to bookmark on TeamSugar. Check it out for more details!

Off to Market: Casserole Dish

partysugar — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:45:08 -0800

Last week I decided to make lasagna. My sausage tomato sauce was done, the cheese was grated, and the pasta ready, when I realized I don't own a large casserole dish! I ended up having to make the lasagna in two pie dishes. To avoid this situation in the future, I need to invest in a casserole dish. Let's head off to market in search of large, oven- and dishwasher-safe serving vessels that can hold everything from potato gratin to white chocolate brownies. Bookmark the dishes in the Yum Market on TeamSugar with the keyword tag Casserole Dish. I appreciate your help!

GeekSugar has put together a post that explains how to bookmark. Check it out for more details! Not sure where to start looking? Be inspired by some of my favorite online stores when you read more

Bed Bath & Beyond
CB2
Cooking.com
Crate & Barrel
Ikea
Linens and Things
NapaStyle
Pier 1
Plum Party
Pottery Barn
Sur La Table
Target
Restoration Hardware
Williams Sonoma
Wishing Fish
World Market

Reader Recipe: Powderhorn Potatoes

Yum Community — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:50:11 -0800

This story was written by member b1uebunn and comes from the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community.Check out her family's Thanksgiving recipe when you read more

Announcing Our Thanksgiving Recipe Challenge!

partysugar — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:00:34 -0800

Calling all home cooks: Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we want you to share your tried and trusted recipes in the community. Just join the Kitchen Goddess group and go hog wild! Does your giblet gravy get rave reviews? Do people fight over the last of your sweet potato casserole? Is everyone always asking for the secret to your green beans? Now's your chance to show us what you've got. Upload your recipes along with a photo and a brief description of the dish to the Kitchen Goddess group. All month long, we'll be selecting our favorite recipes and featuring them here on YumSugar. Imagine the satisfaction you'll have on Thanksgiving dinner when you sister-in-law says, "this stuffing is the best I've ever tasted," and you coolly reply, "I know. It was featured on YumSugar. I'll send you the link to the recipe." So what are you waiting for? Start typing up those recipes now! To learn how to post recipes, check out this guide.

Come Party With Me: Potluck Thanksgiving - Menu

partysugar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:50:39 -0800

Cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal is quite a hefty task. Not only does it require culinary expertise, but it also involves lots of planning. To help shoulder part of the burden and cut the budget, many people like to throw or attend a potluck Thanksgiving.

Usually the person hosting is in charge of the turkey. They should also assign side dishes - that way you won't end up with seven sweet potato casseroles and no cranberry sauce - and coordinate a cooking schedule.

If you're a guest at a potluck on Thanksgiving, be sure to ask the hostess what you should bring.

Select a side dish that can be made almost entirely in advance and put it together the morning of the big day. Communicate with the hostess and explain that your dish needs a certain amount of time in the oven or microwave. To see my recipe suggestions - like herb-roasted turkey, fennel and potato puree, sausage and apple stuffing, and cranberry ginger relish - for hosting and attending a potluck Thanksgiving, read more.

Herb-Roasted Turkey With Maple Gravy
From Food & Wine

Ingredients

One 18-pound turkey
1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
1 medium onion, quartered
20 sage sprigs
20 thyme sprigs
20 parsley sprigs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups turkey stock
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Rinse the turkey inside and out and pat dry. Trim the neck skin. Stuff the turkey with the garlic, onion and sage, thyme and parsley sprigs. Season inside and outside with salt and pepper. Transfer the turkey to a large, lightly oiled roasting pan and roast it for about 3 hours, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in a thigh registers 175°. Cover the turkey with foil if the skin begins to look very brown. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board and let rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour the pan juices into a heatproof bowl and skim off the fat. Set the roasting pan over 2 burners on high heat until sizzling. Add 1 cup of the turkey stock and bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom and side of the pan; add to the pan juices in the bowl.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over moderately high heat for 1 minute. Add the pan juices and remaining 2 cups of turkey stock to the saucepan and cook, whisking, until the gravy is thickened and no floury taste remains, about 5 minutes. Stir in the maple syrup and season with salt and pepper. Strain the gravy into a gravy boat. Carve the turkey and serve with the gravy.

Serves 10.

Notes: Roast the bird for 20 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey and 16 minutes per pound for an unstuffed one. The bird is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh registers between 160° and 180° and the juices run clear. The USDA specifies that cooking poultry to 180° will kill all bacteria that can cause illness. Remove the turkey from the oven when its temperature is 10 degrees lower than desired; the temperature will rise by 5 to 10 degrees as the bird rests.

You’ll need plenty of turkey stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth and roasting pan juices to make enough gravy. To get lots of pan juices, roast your turkey at 350° and baste with some stock; if the bird does not seem to brown adequately, you can always raise the oven temperature during the last half hour for faster browning. If your gravy is too thin, simply make a smooth paste with equal parts flour and unsalted butter, a mixture known in French as beurre manié (mon-YAY). Bring the gravy to a boil and whisk in bits of the paste until you get the thickness you desire. If your gravy seems too thick, gradually whisk in more stock.

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Yukon Gold and Fennel Puree With Rosemary Butter
From Bon Appétit

Ingredients

3 large fresh fennel bulbs (about 2 1/4 pounds total), trimmed, quartered through core, center core trimmed and discarded, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 1 3/4 cups)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup crème fraîche

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine fennel, onion, oil, and 1 teaspoon sea salt in large bowl; toss. Spread in single layer on prepared baking sheet; sprinkle with pepper. Roast until fennel and onion are very tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Transfer fennel mixture to processor and puree until almost smooth.
Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well. Cool slightly. Place in large bowl and mash with potato masher until smooth. Mix in fennel puree.
Melt butter with rosemary and 1 teaspoon sea salt in small saucepan over medium heat.
Stir butter mixture into fennel-potato puree. Mix in crème fraîche. Season to taste with more pepper and salt, if desired. Can be made 6 hours ahead. Transfer puree to large microwave-safe bowl. Cover with plastic wrap. Chill. Before serving, microwave on high until heated through, about 4 minutes.

Serves 8-10.

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Sausage, Dried Cranberry, and Apple Stuffing
From The Hearty Boys

Ingredients

1 pound mild bulk breakfast sausage
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups sliced leeks, white and pale green parts only, cleaned well (about 2 large leeks)
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped celery with leaves
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1 cup dried cranberries, rehydrated in boiling water for 15 minutes and drained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
6 cups boxed bread cubes (croutons)
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 to 3 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Saute the sausage in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling coarsely with the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage and drippings to a large bowl.
Melt the butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, apples, celery and poultry seasoning to the skillet and saute until the leeks are soft, about 8 minutes.
Mix in the drained cranberries, sage and rosemary. Add the mixture to the sausage, then mix in the croutons and parsley. Next add the chicken stock a little at a time until the stuffing is very moist. Be sure not to overdo it; it shouldn't be mushy. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a casserole dish. (The stuffing can be made to this point 2 days before Thanksgiving, refrigerated.)
Bake in a 14-inch oval or 9 by 13-inch rectangular casserole dish and place, uncovered, in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until the top is crispy and the center piping hot. Remove and serve immediately.

Serves 8-10.

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Cranberry-Ginger Relish
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 bag (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar

Directions

In a large saucepan, bring cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until most of the cranberries have popped, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in vinegar.
Remove relish from heat. Let cool to room temperature, and serve (or refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days).

Serves 8.

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Fast & Easy Dinner: Baked Ravioli

partysugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:50:01 -0700

While there are some pastas, like macaroni and rigatoni, that are commonly used to make baked casserole-style dishes, other types, for example ravioli, are often overlooked.

This recipe thinks outside the baking dish by tossing store-bought ravioli with a quick homemade marinara sauce and lots of grated cheese.

The resulting meal is a crunchy, chewy, comforting mess of pasta that's sure to please the children in your life. For a balanced dinner, serve mixed greens on the side. Get the creative recipe when you read more.

Baked Ravioli
From Martha Stewart

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, or oregano
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
2 pounds store-bought ravioli
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add thyme and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with spoon, until sauce is thickened and reduced to about 5 1/2 cups, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling salted water just until they float to the top (pasta will continue to cook in oven). Drain pasta; return to pot.

Toss sauce with pasta. Pour pasta into a large gratin dish or 9-by-13-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with cheeses. Bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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Must Read: The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever

partysugar — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:45:08 -0800

Due to the difficult economic climate, in the past couple of months, the casserole - a one-pot dish that feeds a crowd and often consists of budget-friendly ingredients - has made a strong comeback. To fully embrace the trend, I recently obtained a copy of The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever ($24.95) by Beatrice Ojakangas. It's filled with over 500 casserole recipes, and to find out what I thought of this cookbook, read more.

Pros:

The book takes a healthy approach to casseroles by encouraging home cooks to make their own sauces to replace the "cream of" soups.
There's a loose interpretation of the word "casserole." According to the author, casserole can "refer either to the dish that the food is cooked in or to the food itself." So, while there are plenty of classic casserole recipes, there are also tons of recipes for one-pot, baked dishes.
The book covers every type of cuisine and cooking procedure, from classic breakfast dishes to Moroccan-influenced dinners to casseroles for two.

Cons:

Some of the recipes lack important details. For example, step two in the chili con queso recipe says to "melt butter in a small skillet and add the green onions and poblano peppers. Saute for 5 minutes." The recipe fails to mention the temperature of the stove.
The ingredient lists have too many options, leaving it up to the home cook to decide what to include in the casserole. A recipe will say "heavy cream or sour cream" "4 slices of bacon or 1/2 cup cooked ham." Surely the casserole tastes different depending on which ingredient is used. I prefer for the cookbook author to tell me which one tastes better.
There are virtually no color photographs. In fact, there are almost no photos at all.

Recipes: The focus of this book is clearly the recipes and there is definitely something for everyone. Here are the casserole recipes I would like to make:

All of the hot cheese slather spreads in the appetizer section
Cheese and sausage breakfast pie
Chicken Marengo
Chicken, polenta, and morel casserole
Beer-baked Irish beef
Fiesta casserole
Casserole-braised lamb shanks
Crab melt casserole
Corn and chive pudding
Peaches and cream dessert casserole

Imagery: There are about 16 color photographs in the entire book. Although these images are mouthwatering and professional, some seem a little too stylized.

Overall Rating: If you love casseroles or use the oven to do most of your cooking, you will love this book. The insane quantity of recipes guarantees that you'll be using it in the years to come.

Trend Alert: The Casserole's Back

YumSugar — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:00:55 -0800

Casserole has long had a bad rap, but after many years, it appears to be shedding its negative image and staging a comeback.

These hot entrées hit their pinnacle of popularity in the 1960s, when housewives relied on the easy formula to put dinner on the table. Over the years, however, people grew to associate the word casserole with unappetizing mixtures of mystery meats and canned soups, and casseroles went the way of the tape player. Enter the current economic crisis, and casserole dishes have been reappearing everywhere. To see why, read more.

On Nov. 10, one passionate casserole chef, Emily Farris, will organize her fourth annual casserole party, a showdown between the best casserole dishes. She's also just released a much-discussed cookbook, Casserole Crazy, with non-traditional recipes from star chefs like Paula Deen and Donatella Arpaia.

Today Kraft Foods announced a casserole competition, challenging five bloggers to create an original casserole recipe using its Velveeta cheese product that costs under $10 and feeds a family of four for two meals. And Campbell's even has an entire site dedicated to the creation of casseroles.

One thing's for sure: Casserole's not going away anytime soon, regardless of your feelings for it. Are you excited to see more of it?

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Would You Eat This Caesar-Salad-Topped Potato Gratin?

partysugar — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:00:07 -0700

Recently I went to an event with a buffet. From classic shrimp cocktail to lamb skewers with tzatziki, all of the usual suspects were present. Then, there was this mysterious casserole dish. The bottom resembles potato gratin, while the top looks like Caesar salad. I love both of these dishes by themselves, but was unsure how they would taste together. Not hungry, I didn't end up trying it. If you were at the party, would you taste it?

Pasta Shapes 101

YumSugar — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:01:17 -0800

While spaghetti is the ideal pasta shape for thin, light sauces, when making a thicker hearty sauce a larger pasta shape is ideal. It's important to choose the pasta shape that best compliments the sauce, for example a chunky meat sauce adheres best to pasta shapes with holes and ridges like rigatoni or mostaccioli and rich creamy sauces work best with the slippery noodles of fettuccine. Since today we are all about pasta I thought it would be fun to overview pasta shapes...until I realized that there are over a hundred various kinds! To see a list of interesting pasta shapes, what their name means in English and which type of sauce works best with them, read more

Rotini: (spirals or twists)
Rotini's twisted shape holds bits of meat, vegetables and cheese, so it works well with any sauce, or you can use it to create fun salads, baked casseroles, or stir-fry meals.

Bow Ties, Farfalle: (butterflies)
Bow Ties brighten any meal with their interesting shape. Thick enough for any sauce, or make into a salad or soup.

Ditalini: (little thimbles)
This versatile shape can be used as the base of any dish. Bake it, stir it into soups, or create great salads and stir-fry dishes.

Spaghetti: (a length of cord)
America's favorite shape, Spaghetti is the perfect choice for nearly any sauce, or it can be used to make casseroles or stir-fry dishes. Go beyond tomato sauce and see what your favorite becomes.

Orzo: (barley)
This small, grain shaped pasta can be topped with any sauce, added to soups, or baked as a casserole. Perfect as a side dish as well as a main course.

Fusilli: (twisted spaghetti)
This long, spiraled shape can be topped with any sauce, broken in half and added to soups, or turned into a beautiful salad. Fusilli also bakes well in casseroles.

Penne, Mostaccioli: (quills and small mustaches, respectively)
This tubular pasta goes well with sauce, used in salads, baked in casseroles, or made into stir fry dishes. There are both ridged and smooth versions. The ridged version will allow sauce to cling a bit more.

Ziti: (bridegrooms)
A medium-sized, tubular pasta shape, Ziti is perfect for chunky sauces and meat dishes. It also makes wonderful salads, baked dishes and stir-fry meals.

Rigatoni: (large grooved)
Rigatoni's ridges and holes are perfect with any sauce, from cream or cheese to the chunkiest meat sauces.

Fettuccine: (small ribbons)
Perfect for heavier sauces, like cheese, meat and tomato sauces. For variety, try breaking in half and putting in soups, or use for a salad.

Have I forgotten to mention your preferred pasta shape? Tell me about it below. If you want to learn more about pasta shapes, check out this complete list of the pastas of the world.

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