Don’t you just love Southern Hospitality? One thing I’ll say is that we sure know how to feed a friend in need. There is nothing like a home cooked meal sent by someone who cares to brighten up the corner of your world. Recently my friend Beth and I hatched a plan to take dinner to friend who would be returning home from surgery today. Planning is half the fun, and we had a dynamite menu, flowers and a big bottle of Mountain Dew, our friend’s beverage of choice, all in the works. Well wouldn’t you know she goes and cancels her surgery on us! So what are astute party planners like ourselves to do, but get together and cook anyway. What the heck, the families have to eat!
Of course we had to cook out of Richard’s cookbook. I knew just the thing, we call it “THE Casserole” and there’s a reason for that. Richard has a lovely girlfriend from the West Coast, where, I now know, casseroles are not on the menu. She was coming to dinner and Richard told her we were having a casserole. When we sat down to eat, she politely said, “I love casserole, it’s one of my favorites” which sounded sort of weird until we realized she had never had one, or heard of one, and imagined it as a bizarre food group unique to the South. She assumed that this one dish was the thing we called casserole. We explained that there are different casseroles with different ingredients, but for her, this is THE casserole and we can’t fob her off with anything else.
I’m so glad Beth and I decided to make our dinner. We talked and laughed and of course, cooked. We aren’t Mountain Dew fans and went right on to a more festive afternoon beverage. She won’t admit it, but she can cook up a storm. She’s the youngster in my group and we always call her cute little Beth, because she’s such a baby. This is funny because when you see her, you think tall and gorgeous. It was a highly successful afternoon. We finished making dinner for our families, another good friend dropped by, and we had just a perfect day. I wish cooking was always that fun and easy and that all my friends and loved ones could have such a nice reversal of fate and get to call off whatever ails them!
This is a version of what’s in everyone’s family cookbook. It was the first thing Richard made from his. This is a slightly more grown-up dish than Richard’s, with the chicken sautéed in Sherry. His book gives more info for the novice cook on how to acquire 3 cups of cooked chicken.
Ingredients
3 c cooked chicken, chopped *see note
1 pkg Uncle Ben’s wild rice mixture
1 can cream of celery or mushroom soup
1/2 onion, chopped
1 c mayonnaise
2 cans (16 oz.) French style green beans, rinsed to get rid of the can taste
1 can water chestnuts rinsed and chopped
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp paprika, optional for sprinkling on top
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook wild rice mixture with 2 cups water and the seasoning packet. Mix rice with other ingredients in a large bowl. Place in a 9 x 13 casserole, sprinkle with paprika and bake for 30 minutes.
Serves 8
* My favorite preparation is to pound out 3 chicken breasts to 3/4 inch thickness, salt and pepper both sides, and sauté them in about 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a very hot skillet for 2 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts over, and add 2 Tbsp of sherry to the skillet, put a top on it and turn off the heat. Leave them alone for about 15 minutes, then uncover. They are ready to be chopped for the casserole.
