CASSEROLE TIME number 3 Lazy Man Pierogi

[dragonlady7]

food

via https://ift.tt/3nqcvWg

This one is not from my people, but from Dude’s mom. In fact, behind the cut is her recipe, in her own hand, written down from memory on some scrap note paper for us fifteen years ago or more. The scrap of paper is long gone but I scanned it and a number of other recipes into the computer and the digital files have persisted.

No, this is not a pierogi. This is a casserole. This is many of the components of a pierogi, but instead it is easy. I have no idea who invented this, or why it’s specifically a man, but I do often have this made for me by a man, so I suppose it’s not inaccurate.

[image description: a sheet of note paper with a rose, preprinted “A Note From… Laura”, and it contains, in cursive ballpoint handwriting with many scratch-outs and interpolations, the recipe I am about to transcribe.]

Lazy Man Pierogi

Cook 2c (dry) spirals [ed note: she means rotini but any small pasta will do, as in the mac n cheese post I already made] Mix (in casserole [dish]) with 1 can [condensed] cream of mushroom soup 1 lb of polish sausage [around here that’s usually keilbasa, often smoked] 1 can drained sauerkraut [probably like a 16 oz can, or a quart jar] Pepper

Bake at 350 for about ½ hour.

This one has a real actual recipe, and I promise it is actually quite flavorful and pleasant. I have moved away from buying prepared ingredients like condensed cream of mushroom soup, so I’ve been pondering what I could substitute there– a cream sauce perhaps, something along those lines– I’ll write about it if I ever do come up with something. But, mostly, Dude makes this one, and he makes it off the recipe card, on his phone, faithfully.

This feeds two people with enough left over for like two lunches, so it’s a pretty perfect amount for me. (Your picture was not posted)

Comments

[buttonsbeadslace]

1. That sounds delicious 2. Re: substituting for condensed soup, yeah, when I make "fancy" green bean casserole, I make a white sauce (exactly like you described making the sauce base for mac and cheese- flour, butter, a combo of veg broth and cream or milk) and add garlic powder and a bunch of salt and pepper. If you want it extra super creamy you can melt in some cream cheese too.

[light_of_summer]

Re condensed cream of mushroom soup in casserole recipes, I have experimented with substituting canned (non-dairy?) potato soup, and also with just microwaving a russet potato and making pseudo-soup slurry of its fork-mashed innards mixed with water.

Both worked fine in my favorite tuna casserole*—I just had to eyeball how much potato soup or slurry to add to the other ingredients to get a pre-baking consistency similar to that of the original recipe.

* macaroni elbows, can of tuna (drained), grated cheese, and soupy binder.

...Wow, it's been a long time since I made that. For health reasons, I gave up mushrooms and cow dairy products, years ago, and more recently was advised to cut back on wheat. If I made it now, I'd probably use goat's milk cheddar for the cheese—I think I used to use Tillamook, or possibly Colby.

I'm not sure whether I'd try using a non-wheat noodle, or just declare it a "special occasion" for indulgence in ordinary elbow macaroni. Hm... I'm kind of wondering, now, whether buckwheat soba might be good...but then, it might be healthier and easier to eat (as well as less mentally culture-clashy) to use kasha instead of soba. Hmmmmmm.... thanks for sparking that thought!

[minoanmiss]

The first time I made a recipe requiring cream of mushroom soup I just made a bechamel, threw a whole bunch of sauteed mushrooms in and deglazed the pan with some white wine, and simmered for ten minutes. That worked well enough I've never bothered with the canned soup.