edible hugs aka casseroles

The first thing you should know about casseroles is that the word ‘casserole’ is French and actually refers to the cooking vessel itself. That is to say, you cook a casserole in a casserole and serve it straight from the casserole. (Meta, huh?) So by some classifications, any meal baked in a casserole dish–even a lasagne or a biryani –could be deemed a ‘casserole’.

Origins of the word being used to refer to the contents of the dish are a little hazy, but it seems most likely to have begun in the mid-19th century, when a French-Canadian immigrant first served up a one-pot wonder to his American friends in New Hampshire. At that time, a casserole tended to be a dish of moulded rice or potato featuring some kind of savoury filling such as sweetbreads, but the style soon morphed into the hearty mix