Chinese Casserole

Hey All! After being referenced one too many times (and in a desperate attempt to avoid doing real work), I’ve decided to start posting some recipes myself!

A while back, Charlie and I decided to revisit some of our favorite childhood dishes. Whether raised by gourmet chefs or the culinary challenged, everyone has those few meals that stick out from your childhood. Charlie started the party with Chicken Divan (or Faux-van in our house), and I followed up with this family classic:

“Chinese Casserole,” so named for its soy sauce and chow mein noodles, was in heavy rotation at my house for many, many years.  I’d almost forgotten how good it was until I remade it for our “blast for the past” tour.  I’ve taken my parents’ tried-and-true recipe and modernized it a bit. Here’s how you make it (note–this is a single batch, I made a double for my photos because we like it that much):

Chinese Casserole

For the mixture:

1lb of ground beef (I used Meatless Crumbles)

2 stalks of celery, finely diced

1/2 a medium onion, finely diced

2 cups of cooked rice

1 clove of garlic, finely diced

black pepper to taste

 

For the sauce*:

1 can of cream of celery soup

1/3 cup of soy sauce

1/2 cup of water

 

For the topping:

1/2-1 cup of chow mein noodles

*The sauce is your opportunity to mess around with the flavors. I’ve played around with tamari, hoisin sauce, sriracha, red pepper flakes. Have fun, find flavors you like!

Cook rice according to instructions, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the celery, onion and garlic. Saute until the vegetables begin to soften, add the ground beef and cook through.

 

While the mixture is cooking, combine the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. As I mentioned before, you should play around with the additions/proportions in order to find the taste that you like best. I usually add a few squeezes of sriracha because we like things on the spicy side in our kitchen.

Once the rice and ground beef mixture are cooked, add the sauce to the mixture. Then add rice, ½ cup at a time until you have the right consistency. The mixture should be loose but not liquid.  Something like this:

I have found that two cups is about the right proportion, but remember that because the rice is already cooked, it is not going to soak up nearly as much of the liquid as it would if it were raw. Scoop the mixture into a 9×9 pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Spread the chow mein noodles evenly over the top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the chow mein noodles have browned and the mixture is bubbly. 

Let cool and enjoy!

~Tom