Besides the tragic casserole cookbook, I have a "real" casserole cookbook I bought a few years ago. I also am a sucker for those little "Taste of Home" cookbooks (and the like) that hang out at checkout counters.
I'm making a new one from the "real" casserole cookbook tonight. This one has spawned a variety of winners, including my friend Kim's favorite (a spinach, cheese, and thyme pasta dish). I don't know that I've ever made anything from this cookbook I didn't like. Just recently, I made an arroz con pollo that Curtis and I were both quite excited about.
Tonight, I feel, won't be an exception to that rule, but what I'm making, I don't know that it falls into the field I think of as a conventional casserole. I'd like to see what my readers, and what other cooks, think about it.
The name of it is "Chicken Thighs with Peppers." I cut up 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green), halved 6 garlic cloves, cut an onion into chunks, quartered 3 medium potatoes, and placed it all in a casserole dish with 4 chicken thighs, then glugged some olive oil over it, and shook some salt, pepper, and thyme over the whole thing.
Now, I think this will be good, and I think Curtis and I will enjoy it. But it doesn't feel like a casserole, at least not the way I understand it. The chicken thighs are whole, bone-in, not cut up at all; the vegetables are sliced, but they're pretty darn big, still; and there is no liquid (soup, a roux, etc.) holding it all together.
