velochic said:
I'm American and grew up in America.
I think that the overwhelming difference between Europe/Australia/N.Zeal. and the US is that in the US, casseroles are all about using processed foods. In Europe, the casseroles are all about using up fresh ingredients that you have left over from other meals. I rarely purchase ingredients to make a casserole. Sauces are freshly made from a simple roux plus herbs, spices and other fresh ingredients.
We don't eat processed foods, but we love casseroles. I get frustrated at the ingredient list that always begins with "a can of cream of mushroom soup". To me, that's not cooking. And when I post recipe requests and say, "Only fresh ingredients", I never get replies. It's frustrating.
I don't mean to be snarky or anything... just voicing my frustration at the lack of truly "scratch" casserole recipes that are out there.
Oh goody, let's nit-pick!
I'm American and grew up in America too, and I too have moved to Europe. My frustrations and prejudices are similar to yours. However, interestingly enough, while I'll immediately buy Ishbel's oven=casserole, stove-top=stew rule of thumb, you've complicated things by saying that casseroles are all about using up ingredients left over from other meals. Gee Velo, that's HASH!
In all fairness, I have to admit a certain nostalgic fondness for things like my grandmother's goulash (egg noodles, ground beef, canned tomatoes in essence) and my mum's "tuna noodle" (again with the noodles yet, plus tuna obviously, plus traditionally, a
can of cream of mushroom soup!). The latter I tried on my family here recently and my children just loved it. Mind you, not having such a thing as a can of cream of mushroom soup available (or if I could find it at the supermarket chances are good it would be dusty and expired) I made a nice mushroom-y mix of my own from the very pure, real ingredients you and I can find so easily and prefer.
My point? The casserole recipes themselves are worth holding on to, even if they're expressed in convenience-food terms for some of the ingredients. Make logical substitutions for those ingredients and chances are good you'll end up with a meal that's simple and straightforward and yummy and economical. All good things, no?