It's Tuesday again, and again Emily made supper for us last night. Because there was no school yesterday we had a little more time for her to make something that took a little bit longer to create. Still less than 30 minutes, plus baking time, for you looking for fast & easy recipes.
Last week, looking for the Corn Chowder recipe, Emily found this casserole & decided it was her choice for this week. It tends to be popular with kids because it contains chips-it was always a hit at potluck suppers, and I suspect that, and the name, were part of the draw. For me it was re-visiting an old favourite. The recipe card is written, again, in my juvenile hand, but I can't date it precisely. Some of the ink is fading, and in the instructions are my feeble attempts to scribe an ampersand (&). Still can't do it, have resigned myself to using a (+) sign when I write longhand.
While Emily walked her friend home I started browning the ground beef because the package was still mostly frozen. Winter has arrived with a vengeance and it is cold in my kitchen. By the time she got back & got undressed the meat was on its way. Into the meat she added 1 onion, chopped & i minced clove of garlic. Because I had started the process it was hard for me to step aside & just supervise. I handed her the recipe card & told her to read it carefully. The meat was about two-thirds browned & she was eager to take the next step. I stopped her, explaining that the onions were not yet cooked, and there was quite a bit of water from the meat in the pan. I had her drain the can of kidney bean & place them in a mixing bowl so I could use the can. I spooned most of it off for her, as this is not a kid-friendly task, placing it in the can for easy disposal. Tin cans usually go into the recycling bin, but sometimes they have other uses.
Into the kidney beans she mixed 1 cup of shredded cheddar. As a parenthetical note I often will grate large quantities of cheese and keep it for these kinds of uses. Sometimes the block in the fridge is getting old, sometimes I need a little for a recipe & since I have the grater out I may as well do a lot as a little. And the cost of pre shredded cheese is insane. Anyway...Back to cooking.
Into the now drained & browned ground beef, onion & garlic mixture Emily poured one can of tomato sauce & a package of taco seasoning. I confess I had to purchase this specifically since I season taco meat with my own mix of spices, by taste & aroma, She stirred everything together & set it aside to simmer while starting to construct this layered dish.
I had greased a 2 quart casserole dish for her, and into it she laid 1/3 of a bag of taco chips (I bought Zesty Cheese Doritos for this dish, but any flavour - or plain ones- would work). The mixture of kidney beans and cheese was poured onto the chips, followed by another third of the chips. Next we spooned in the meat mixture (I say we because lifting the pan & pouring was much easier for me to do. ) This was topped with the remainder of the chips, a half cup of taco sauce (we used salsa) and another cup of shredded cheese.
The recipe card makes no mention of baking this, whether because it's not necessary or because my overly confident mind omitted that detail I do not know. I do know I have always heated this in the oven for about 30 minutes, at 350 degrees F. I suppose one could take it either way, as the meat sauce is warm.
When we sat down to eat Emily decided to add sour cream and salsa to her serving, I opted for a smaller portion and a small salad, trying to regain control of some poor habits....a post for another day perhaps.
The casserole was as tasty as I remembered, but saltier (the fault of the taco seasoning packet, since we added no salt, and the chips, of course). It made a huge meal though, at least huge for the two of us. I suspect my wonderful & hard working babysitter will be getting lunch for the minions tomorrow. I think, apart from not wanting to do battle with my kids about eating the beans (Emily tried to pick them out, I told her if she left them mixed in she wouldn't even taste them....but that didn't work on me at 10, what made me think it would work on her? She did leave them in though, so maybe it does work sometimes....or maybe Nancy's influence (my amazing sitter) is shining through...or having made it herself helped. ) it was the sheer volume of the dish that left it in the archives rather that having it a part of the repetitive. Cooking for one, or one and a half, doesn't make most casseroles very practical. I have always done this dish in a deep casserole as well, but having made it now I think a longer, shallow dish (like a 9x13 cake pan) might work better. Hindsight, as they say.
Nacho Casserole
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (lean)
1 can tomato sauce (398 ml/15 oz)
1 package taco seasoning
1 can kidney beans
2 cups shredded cheddar, divided
1 bag taco chips
1/2 cup taco sauce/salsa
1/2 cup scallions (optional)
Brown beef, onion, and garlic, drain if needed. Stir in tomato sauce and taco seasoning.
Drain kidney beans, toss with 1 cup of cheese
Grease a 2 quart casserole dish, layer bottom with with one third of the chips. Lay bean/cheese mixture over chips, top with another third of the chips. Pour meat sauce over. Top with remaining chips, drizzle with taco sauce, sprinkle with scallions and remaining cheese.
No comments:
Post a Comment