Yep. That title says fail #1. Insert sigh here. I hate to say I 'never' fail a recipe, I'm not a cooking God, but it is rare. I don't know what the heck happened with this recipe...
So, my grandma didn't make this casserole very often, in fact, I only really remember ONE time that she made it. It was a baby or wedding shower at my parent's house. I loved it! I requested it often, but I'm not sure my request was ever fulfilled.
There has been many times I've tried recreating this recipe without knowing what's actually in it. I called my grandma once or twice for the recipe, but she never knew where to find it. Every time I've attempted it, it's come out pretty good. I used egg noodles, chicken, mushrooms, onions, red bell peppers, and cream of chicken soup. Everyone liked it. It was in our regular dinner rotation for a while.
I was really excited to receive this recipe from my uncle. I finally had the actual recipe, and boy, my version was off.
The first three ingredients were good. With the exception of her using canned mushrooms and me using fresh. Then, she used pimentos instead of red bell peppers, and she made her own sauce instead of using a canned cream of chicken soup. That is where the recipe went wrong. Allow me to explain.
I noticed this problem immediately. I learned that when making a roux, you use equal parts fat and flour. So, it was a red flag that the recipe called for 1/2 c butter and 1/3 c flour. BUT I had to try it like the recipe says. So, I began. I had a nice paste going on, but then I had to add the milk. I was still okay. Next...chicken broth; two whole cups! This wasn't happening. I stirred and stirred and stirred. Wasn't thickening. I poured it in a 9x13 and tried the sauce again, adding more flour this time. It didn't help. I decided to combine both sauces because I wanted to double the recipe. I added the noodles to the pan and threw it in the oven.
40 minutes later: ding.
Took the 'casserole' out of the oven, and thought it best to use a ladel because it was more like a soup; a "cassoup", if you will. Kevin said it started to thicken as it sat on the stove, but I think the noodles were just soaking up the liquid.
The flavor was okay...a little bland and not quite like I remember. The versions that I made without a recipe tasted better.
I will try this again, as I am determined to get it right. I don't want to add too much more flour because I don't want it to get the flour taste.
If it doesn't come out again, I will try combining her recipe and my recipe and see what happens.
Insert big sigh.
I think we're going out for dinner tonight.
Update: I just had a little bowl as a snack because I wanted to see if the flavors improved overnight. They did. If I would've had this bowl last night, I might not have been so upset with the way it came out. It still wasnt perfect; it needed a little salt and pepper, and I had a hard time tasting the pimento. But it was better than last night. Maybe that's the trick? Put it in the fridge over night and then bake it the next night. Who knows....
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