Recipes by Zola - Ham and Chicken casserole

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Ham and Chicken casserole

Zola Gorgon

The Main Course...

When I was small, my father traveled fairly regularly for business. It was fun when he came home because we got to meet him at the train station. My mom would actually let us put our ears to the track and we'd pretend we could hear the train coming. We were sure we could hear it through vibrations on the track. When the track light went from green to red we had to stand on the platform. No more going on the tracks. We'd stand and wait for Dad.

While he was gone, my mother would take the opportunity to make something different for dinner. Not every time; just sometimes. You see, my father was a meat and potatoes man. He wanted his meat, potatoes and a vegetable on the plate, all separated by space. No big seasoning. Just plain, good food. My mother wanted to be more creative, so she'd sometimes take the opportunity to make a casserole when he was gone.

There's one funny, and at the same time sad, story that I wanted to tell you about the casseroles. One casserole I (and my siblings) remember well, was the one with the rice base. We decided as children that rice was a bad thing. We hated rice. Dad didn't like rice. We never ate rice. So why would she pick now to serve rice? And besides, it was all mixed up with other stuff. Can't even remember what the other tidbits were in that casserole dish because all I could see was rice.

And complain we did. We whined. We pushed our food around the plate, avoiding it altogether. Mom, of course saw through this rouse. She knew we were not eating so she began to command that we eat. Eat it and eat it now! "There's nothing wrong with it!" she bellowed. I remember that line well.

Well, I don't know who threw up first. I know I wasn't me, but I did take my turn at the bowl. I don't know if it was hearing the first one in the bath off of the kitchen that got us going in succession, but I do remember that each of us bolted for the bathroom and gagged our little brains out.

That was it. My mother was furious! She knew we had no reason to be tossing our rice casserole. We had to be faking it. So she commanded that we all sit back down and EAT.

My brother Bob was at the table that evening. He's five years older than me and was probably the oldest at the table that evening. He might have been 12. That would have made me7 and my next youngest brother 6. I'm not sure if any of the others were at the table that evening. Some of the older ones had part time jobs and my littlest brother probably wasn't born yet, and if he was born, he wasn't a candidate for rice casserole.

My brother Bob took the hit. When my mother became sick of our whining, whimpering, and tears she lost it. She couldn't take the pushing of food around anymore. She got out a wooden spoon and cracked it over my brother Bob's head. And crack it did! It split in half and the rounded end flew across the kitchen. Total silence. We were stunned! My mother had resorted to corporal punishment! This was a rare occurance. We sat stunned. Then my brother Bob rubbed the top of his head and the silence was broken. We all burst out laughing. We were laughing so hard the tears came back. We couldn't stop. My mother, at first, started to cry. Then I noticed she was laughing too, but trying not to show it.

As a parent, have you ever had to stifle that laugh?

We still laugh about that story today.

So today's recipe has to be a casserole. You could have guessed. I hardly ever make casseroles. I've never warmed up to the thought, but when I sit down to a good one I wonder why I've missed more opportunities to make this wonderful comfort food. Must be part of that story of the cracking spoon still left in me.

This casserole isn't a Zola original. It was an inspiration I found on the internet and then doctored up to make it my own. I'll write it up the way I made it the first time and then I'll tell you how I would consider making it next time to take it up a level. Thanks to a woman named Jan Taylor for the inspiration.

Ham and Chicken Casserole

2 cups of uncooked egg noodles
4 Tbl of butter
4 Tbl of white flour
2 cups of milk
8 oz of cooked chicken, cubed. I buy the prepacked, cooked chicken and just cut it up. I choose the Italian, grilled version so you get some more flavor mixed in.
1 cup of cooked diced ham. All I did was buy a small ham steak and cube it up.
1/2 cup of chopped celery. I made mine sliced celery instead of chopped, so the chunks are bigger. Having a bit of crunch really gave the casserole texture.
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
8 oz of shredded Cheddar cheese. Next time I'd use half Gruyere and half Cheddar to give it a bit of a denser flavor
1/2 tsp of cayenne (or to taste). I'm always adding some zip. This is optional, but even people who like bland food appreciated this.
1 tsp of paprika

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9 X 13 ovenproof pan.

In a soup pot or pasta pot, bring water to a boil (fill it so it will cover the noodles well). Once it's boiling put in your noodles. Cook for 6 - 8 minutes (or according to package directions). Stir half way through the cooking time. Drain.

While that's happening you can work on your sauce. In a large sauce pan, put in your butter and melt it on medium. Add the flour and mix, stirring constantly. Keep stirring. You are making a roux and the base for a traditional white sauce. Slowly add your milk. Stir on medium for 5 minutes or until your sauce thickens. Remove from heat. If your pot is big enough you can mix the rest in with the noodles or you might need to use a large bowl. Mix the sauce, the noodles, chicken, ham, cheese, celery, salt, pepper and cayenne. Spoon the mixture into your baking dish and sprinkle on the paprika for color. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the whole thing is hot, melted and gooey. Serve hot.

A simple salad on the side and a piece of bread to push around the noodles and you are all set.

Or you can curl up with a bowl of it and watch a movie like we did.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at zolacooks@gmail.com.

This news arrived on: 09/29/2008

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