Casserole love

God I love casserole, I am pretty sure it is one of the best culinary inventions EVER! Casseroles as we know them now were invented during the depression and stayed popular during WWII as a way to stretch tight supplies and create hot filling meals out of very little, guess what? It still works, no canned cream of mushroom soup required! I have been making most of my casseroles from leftover pasta and grain dishes that were a little liquidy when I first made them, all you do to make those is put the leftovers in a casserole dish, cover with grated cheese and bread crumbs and back until browned on top in a 350 degree oven. If it looks too dry, pour some milk or wine on it before baking. I guarantee you this is better than slimy leftover pasta from the microwave. The other kind of casseroles I make are ones that incorporate the cheap (or free if from our yard) seasonal local vegetables from our farmers market in new ways, there are only so many times one can eat sauteed kale. Here is a recipie that can be made any time of year but for us in North Carolina is perfect winter food, mostly because it incorporates about everything we have in the winter.

Southern Winter Casserole
1 large bunch greens (kale or chard)
2 large sweet potatoes or yams
1 block firm tofu
1/2 onion (sweet if you have it)
Garlic (we use 6-8 cloves)
Milk
olive oil or butter
sherry or other white cooking wine
Casserole pan (oven safe)
Bread crumbs

For tofu marinade
soy sauce
worstershire sauce
Olive oil
sherry/ beer whatever
Honestly, whatever you like to marinate tofu in)

First, press tofu and mix up marinade to taste, cut tofu into 1/2 inch slices and cover in marinade mixture, let sit.

Roughly chop onion and garlic, cook onion in 1 tblsp butter/ 1 tblsp olive oil until transulcent, add garlic halfway through. Chop sweet potatoes into smallish peices and put in steamer. grease casserole pan and chop greens. When onion is translucent splash with sherry and stir to deglaze. add greens into skillet and cover. sweet potatoes should take 15-20 minutes. Take them out and put in mixing bowl, see if you can mash with fork, add milk until texture is right (smooth and mashable), garlic and salt, mash with fork or empy beer bottle until mashed potatoes, I like to leave the skin on for texture. flatten mashed potatoes into bottom of pan, add steamed greens/ onion/ garlic mixture in 2nd layer. arrange tofu slices on top and cover with bread crumbs, bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, serve when ready, will benefit from rest and stay warm for up to 20 minutes.