Casseroles Are Serious Comfort Food
On a cold night, after a grindingly long day, what better than to sit down to a hot dish replete with aroma, taste, and memories? Few dishes are as restorative as a casserole…warm, filling, and savory.
The casserole has roots in different cuisines. What we dub lasagna has been cooked in various layered-and-baked pasta guises throughout the Mediterranean.
Baked beans have an honored tradition in the French cassoulet.
In the Southwest, Tex-Mex influences have brought us enchiladas baked in a dish, whether that be hamburger with a spicy red sauce, or chicken with a green chile and sour cream sauce.
Chicken Fried Steak
For those who happen to enjoy an unusual cross of flavors and styles, chicken fried steak is something to be experienced. A cross between the classic taste of steak and the simple joys of fried chicken, this increasingly popular method of cooking steak is a wonderfully memorable mix of different flavors. Casual, yet dignified, it is a meal that distinguishes itself with its flexibility and accessible nature. Which makes chicken fried steak the type of meal that can fit a variety of occasions.
Cooking chicken fried steak is not too difficult to make. All it requires is a steak, breadcrumbs, oil and a skillet or deep fryer. Simply cover the steak in breadcrumbs, heat the oil in the skillet or deep fryer, and cook the steak until it is done. If it is being made in a skillet, it needs to be flipped every couple of minutes but, otherwise, there is little that needs to be done until the steak is done cooking.
It is very rare for chicken fried steak to be made from a top quality cut of beef. After all, the steak is not being expected to stand entirely on its own, so it is not vital that it be perfect. Additionally, the frying of the steak has a tenderizing effect on the meat, which also permits a slightly lower quality cut of meat to be used. Obviously, there is a limit, but chicken fried steak is more forgiving than steak on the grill.
Cilantro
In his engaging book, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, author Scott Cunningham tells us that cilantro, and its seed coriander, have long been used in love sachets and spells. He claims that adding the crushed seeds to warm wine makes an effective “lust potion.”
Cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley, is the leaf of the coriander plant. The spice coriander is the seed. The names cilantro and coriander are sometimes interchanged. In England, for example, only the word coriander is used and they are differentiated by referring to the coriander seed or coriander leaf. This can be confusing in recipes as the seed and the leaf have very different flavours, although each will complement the other.
There are those who don’t like the flavour of cilantro and they like to remind everyone that the generic name, Coriandrum sativum, is derived from the Greek word koris, which means “bedbug”, as one is supposed to smell like the other. I can’t vouch for this as I’m fortunate enough to never have smelled a bedbug. I do love the flavour of cilantro however. It enhances wonderfully the taste of soups, stews and salads.