Potato Cheese Casserole

Casseroles are definitely American. The idea of putting lots of items together in one dish and cooking in the oven is not new (hello lasagne and macaroni tou fourno), but the presence of certain ingredients, usually canned soup or processed foods, seems to firmly set a dish into the casserole genre. Or at least, that's how it's done in the States.

But there is something warm and fuzzy about a good casserole. They are associated with home cooking and family dinners, potlucks and sharing foods, and dinners family and friends drop by the house when you are having a rough time. There's just so much love in a casserole.

The potato cheese casserole is no exception. It comes from my grandma, the same one that taught me how to make pie crust, and one of my favorite dishes to have at her house. Casseroles have a bad reputation as they can sometimes be pretty dismal and gloopy, and A did not help this casserole by telling everyone that it has cornflakes it in (gasp! shock! horror!), but please trust me when I tell you that this is fantastic comfort food, with potatoes, butter and sour cream, What more could you ask for in a casserole?

As with any casserole, it's pretty easy to make though there are a lot of ingredients, so bear with me- or skip to the end to see the recipe.

First, take some frozen hash browns and pour them into a casserole dish, or a long rectangular pan. I had to search high and low for frozen hash browns, as this is another American dish not really common here, and finally found some with onions, bacon and tomatoes. Luckily, these flavours work with the casserole, so I went ahead with them. If using the plain hash browns, go ahead and add the onion too.

I then added the melted butter...

cream of chicken soup...

cheddar...

and sour cream... I used too much because I thought I could eye what a pint was (note to self- you can't). Mix this all up.

Here's the fun part: pour the cornflakes into a bowl. Now, you may think "Why would I put a breakfast cereal into my dinner dish?" Cornflakes are not sweet and have a nice crunch which ends up being an integral part of this casserole. Don't miss out on the cornflakes!

Especially those covered in butter. If cereal was always covered in butter, I might actually enjoy it.

Sprinkle the cornflakes on top of the casserole and bake for an hour.

This smells divine when cooking. After an hour, the cornflakes should be browned but not burnt and all the flavours will have melded together.

Casseroles are a lovely meeting and snuggling of warm ingredients.

Potato Cheese Casserole

2 pounds frozen hash browns

1/2 cup Oleo (or butter)

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cups shredded cheddar

1 pint sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups corn flakes

Melt 1/4 cup oleo and pour over hash browns. Combine remaining wet ingredients and mix well. Melt the remaining 1/4 cup oleo and pour over cornflakes, then sprinkle over top of casserole. Bake at 350 degrees F/180 degrees C for at least one hour. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

PS- Have you seen that there is a new casserole restaurant open in Atlanta, Georgia? Sounds awesome!

Potato pizza

Potato pizza is carb heaven, something I crave in the colder months.

The inspiration for this pizza came from a London pizza place in Covent Garden that puts all sorts of non-typical things on to pizza: curries, fried eggs, duck. I went to this restaurant a while ago with friends and had a fantastic pizza with potatoes, bacon and sour cream. I can't resist sour cream in almost any form, so I had to try this pizza. It was fantastic and I ran back to try it at home.

That trial took about 6 months, but still, it's the effort that counts!

As it was a weeknight when I made the pizza, I was in a rush to cook and eat my carbohydrate-laden dinner after a day's work. I didn't peel the potatoes, just sliced them thinly using a mandolin and hoped they would cook on the pizza base.

(Mandolin = stringed instrument often used in and associated with folk/Americana music; or, slanted stand with blade kitchen utensil for thinly slicing vegetables and things)

Just wait until you hear about eating Penguins!*

Throw the sliced potatoes into a bowl with some herbs de provence and olive oil and toss them around until coated.

Take your pizza dough mixture ball and roll it out flat in some semblance of a round shape.

Show off your engagement ring while spreading some olive oil onto the pizza base. :)

Meanwhile, I had some sliced red onions caramelizing in the background, which I then spread on to the pizza base. If you can't wait for the onions to actually caramelize, you can always add a teaspoon of brown sugar, which will help it along, or for this dish, a splash of balsamic vinegar which will sweeten as it cooks down.

Spread the potatoes on top of the onions in a neat layer.

Then cut some mozzarella (the real stuff, no imitations please) into chunks and sprinkle those about.

Cook for 15-20 minutes and there you have it! You can easily add crumbled bacon, sour cream, or parmesan on top, or anything else you want. It's pizza, which has been taken over by practically every culture on the planet and made to fit; make it to suit you!

* No worries, they don't eat real penguins here, though it did throw me the first time I heard someone say they packed a penguin in a child's lunch. Penguin is a type of chocolate sweet. :)