Green Bean Casserole with Mushroom Cream Gravy

This is not the “authentic” American pantry casserole with condensed canned soup and bland canned vegetables. This uses fresh vegetables and rich butter and cream and ok, some canned fried onions.

Spanish Chicken & Rice

Flavorful, colorful, easy to make – easy to see why it’s a family favorite. A Spanish sofrito of tomatoes, peppers and onions are baked with the chicken & rice to make an easy one-dish meal that also freezes well.

Hungarian Baked Cauliflower with Swiss Cheese – Rakkot Karfiol

I have nothing against plain cauliflower, but adding a light gravy and a good quantity of swiss cheese and breadcrumbs gives it a creamy-crispy golden deliciousness that’s pretty great. Also useful as a vegetarian foil to the sauerkraut and all the pork possible casserole I’ve already posted. Separating the cauliflower out into bite-size pieces is…

Polenta Cheese Bake – Polenta Pasticciata

Jump to Recipe This update to my “Ceci Polenta” recipe is now a casserole with melted cheese and caramelized onions and it’s super easy to make ahead. So yeah, that’s going to automatically make it one of my favorites. Also, having a delicious vegetarian gluten free Italian recipe in my arsenal is not a bad thing…

Sauerkraut Pork Casserole – Kolozsvári rakott káposzta

If you love Eastern European smoked sausage as much as I do, you’ll find this recipe balances rich smoky meat wonderfully with sauerkraut and spices – made ahead. the melding of the different seasonings is especially delicious.

Baked Corn Casserole

When we serve this dish at holiday or birthday feasts, it’s almost always the first pan emptied, no matter what else we make – comfort food at its finest.

Family Favorite: Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna

If I was going to list my family’s top 10 favorite dishes, I think I could confidently say this would make the top five. It’s the most common dish on the menus I found when I reviewed my family’s Italian Birthday Feasts, and that doesn’t even include our non-Italian birthday menus, which still often manage to…

Lentil Meadow Pie

The first time my sister made it, we almost started a fight over the last piece. Since then we always make it in large quantities, and it frequently appears at holidays and parties, since it’s a delicious dish that’s easy to make ahead and vegetarian – yet also appealing to picky eaters.

Puerto Rican – Pastelón Plantain Casserole

A wonderful family recipe from my friend Iris – the “structure” is similar to lasagna or moussaka and many other layered casseroles from around the world, but the flavor is completely unique, the faint sweetness of the plantains contrasting with the richly seasoned meat filling.