Recipe of the Day: Pasta and Corned Beef Casserole

I am a lazy mom. I don't like to spend hours in the kitchen. When my kids demand food, I usually try to make the easiest dishes. 

This one probably takes about 40-50 minutes, and the preparation is less than 10 minutes. 

Casseroles are hearty and easy to make. True, you need an oven (you can also use a steamer, though)  but you can make them in oh-so-many ways. That way, your family (in my case, kids) will marvel at how creative I am, how diverse my repertoire is. (Ha ha!) 

Pasta and Corned Beef Casserole
for a casserole dish, for four people (maybe more, if you are not that greedy) 

Ingredients:  
- 1 cup of pasta (I used fusilli), boiled according to your liking (some like 'em al dente, but if you like 'em softer, it's up to you), strained using a colander  
- 2 eggs
- 1 can of corned beef (I used 250 grams)
- 50 gr of grated mozzarella
- Butter / spray cooking oil for the casserole dish

Coat the casserole dish with butter / spray cooking oil evenly. Pour the boiled pasta and spread evenly on the dish. Break the eggs and mix them with corned beef. Pour it on the pasta. Top it with grated mozzarella. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

That's it! That easy, huh? You can use another pasta, add grated vegetables, use minced meat, add some mashed potatoes, or use tofu instead of meat. 

Bread Casserole

I don't really feel like cooking (in front of the stove, that is) today because I have a deadline. So I thought of making something simple. Mix this and that and let the oven do the rest.

We haven't bought bread for more than two months, since we started making our own. So when I decided to make bread casserole, I used my homemade spinach bread. You can use regular white/wholewheat bread, of course. Just make sure to add salt, sugar, and broth. My spinach-cheese bread is savory as is, so I did not add any of them.

For this casserole, you need to eyeball some ingredients. Be creative and fun!

Ingredients:
- 4 eggs (I added a tsp of shoyu because I like the taste), mix well with a fork
- Some bread (I used homemade spinach and cheese bread)
- 1 onion (you can add more if it's not enough), slice diagonally 
- Some grated cheese (I used mozzarella, approximately 50 gr)
 
First, spread some butter or margarine on a casserole dish. I used a shallow one. Then, line the onions. Slice the bread thinly (if you use rolls) or just tear the bread inside the casserole dish. Sprinkle some salt, sugar, approximately 50 ml broth (watery broth, not the powder type) if you use plain bread. Pour the egg mixture into the dish. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30-45 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Ponion Casserole with Corned Beef

Casseroles. They are simple to make and tasty, too. You can make plenty of variations and they'll still taste good. (If you fail, you can always toss the ingredients to fried rice/nasi goreng!)

Last night, I tinkered in the kitchen wondering what to make. Then I saw my belated ma's casserole dish and I thought, hey, why not. I have some potato and onion, and in the spur of the moment I made this.

I didn't add salt or sugar because it's salty as it is, with the corned beef and mozzarella. I added my vegetable broth of the day. The taste changes from time to time, depending on what I put inside the broth. For this broth, I think I added garlic, shallot, onion, cabbage, bean, carrot. You can substitute this with plain water, chicken or beef broth, of course. 

Usually I make ponion casserole with béchamel sauce, but my son requested corned beef instead. For a deeper dish, you might want to consider topping it with béchamel sauce before adding mozzarella.