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Vegetable casseroles can be made in various ways, from commercial cream soup-based recipes to gourmet medleys of fresh vegetables and seasonings. Traditional dishes like sweet potato casserole and French ratatouille are examples of this versatile dish, which can be adapted to different ethnic cuisines.
Available in healthy, calorie-packed versions, you can make a vegetable casserole with a range of approaches. It could be a no-nonsense, commercially suggested recipe that cooks a creamy soup in a particular vegetable, such as a cream of chicken soup with green beans or a cream of cheddar soup with broccoli. It could also be a more traditional side dish like sweet potato casserole. A more gourmet approach is likely to involve a medley of fresh vegetables and seasonings – along with noodles or even rice – that’s filling enough to go from a side dish to a vegetarian dish.
Western companies like Campbell’s Soup have long touted the goodness of vegetable casserole recipes that hinge on one of the many types of cream soups that line store shelves. At get-togethers across the nation, chances are someone brought a creamed corn, green bean casserole or asparagus, or broccoli dipped in cheddar cheese. Tuber vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and artichokes, as well as hard-shelled vegetables such as squash and zucchini feature prominently in many of these types of recipes, due to their filling nature and ability to stand the test of time. of cooking.
A gourmet approach to vegetable casserole will likely employ a more complex or at least more nuanced approach, with a fresher range of ingredients. For example, a mashed potato casserole might go in a sweet direction with brown sugar and cinnamon, or a savory white potato casserole might be fortified with various cheeses like cheddar or gouda — and even bacon or shallots. What makes these single vegetable-based casseroles stand out is how they attempt to alter and accentuate that single ingredient in dramatic ways.
Perhaps the world’s most famous example of a true vegetable casserole that employs a medley of vegetables is French ratatouille. Able to serve as a side dish or vegetarian meal, this recipe features chopped tomatoes, onions, and red, green, and yellow peppers in one section, with staples like eggplant and zucchini filling another. One of the more traditional preparations for this dish involves cooking sliced aubergine, sliced zucchini and the rest of the vegetables separately, then using them to form a sort of vegetable lasagna – with the zucchini and aubergine alternating as large dividers of noodles. The casserole is then subjected to rapid cooking to delicately blend the aromas, which are usually blended with simple ingredients such as olive oil, thyme, basil, salt and pepper.
This is just one of many ethnically divergent vegetarian casserole-style baked dishes. In India, the country with the highest vegetarian density, a vegetable casserole is approached with similar vegetables – perhaps substituting beans for zucchini or eggplant – but very different toppings. These dishes often forgo Mediterranean-style flavors in favor of condiments like garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and diced chillies or chili powder.
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