Crazy for Casserole

That Crazy Casserole Lady, Emily Farris, author of “Casserole Crazy, Hot Stuff for your Oven!”, threw the latest installment of her Brooklyn Casserole Party at The Brooklyn Kitchen on October 25th, 2010. 

There were 44 casseroles, 120 guests, and a whole lot of Pyrex.  Within the confines of vintage glass bakeware and cast iron pans there was much noodle and even more cheese, making for ooey, gooey, crusty goodness. But this is New York, so in addition to your standard Middle American varieties—I’m looking at you tuna noodle casserole—you had your Jewish dishes—including the matzo-ball soup inspired wonder courtesy of Team “Jewish Penicillin”—your Mexican food—second place prize went to a chorizo-loaded chilaquiles—and a whole lot of casserole mutts.  And in true Brooklyn locavore style, Not Eating Out in New York’s Cathy Erway fancied up this humble dish with home-cured sockeye salmon, orange cauliflower from the Greenmarket, and herbs grown on a New York rooftop.

There were prizes for best casserole and best team name, and the chaps from the Universal Records Database were on hand to witness the setting of two world records: “most casseroles in one room” (44) and “most casseroles tasted in one minute” (30). The gorge fest was tempered by generosity, as participants shelled out more than $1,100 for the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen.

Watch Casserole Queen Emily Farris making her favorite recipe, Sweet Potato Not Pie, here:

- photos by Sandra Vu
- words by Suzanne Glickstein