Bagdad Hash: Classic Scary Casserole

Thanks to you all who voted on Facebook, today's Favorite Recipes from Caldwell, Idaho recipe is....a scary casserole!

Bagdad Hash
Laura Hadley
Star, Idaho

1 c. diced celery
1 c. diced onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1 (5 1/2 oz.) can chow mein noodles
3 or 4 oz. cashews
1 can tuna
Crushed potato chips on top

Bake for 1 hour at 350° in 2-quart dish.

This, folks, is what I think of when I think of a casserole. Heck, it's what I think of when I think of chow mein noodles, too (though butterscotch haystacks come swiftly afterwards). Cans of stuff, mixed with fried crunchy things. I particularly appreciate the fact that we get two fried crunchy things in this recipe (the noodles and the chips).

You could fancy this up if you want. Two cups of your own homemade cream of mushroom soup (or cream of celery soup, or cream of chicken soup, or what have you) would be lovely. Softening up the onion and celery before putting it in the gloop would be nice. Buttered and herbed breadcrumbs instead of potato chips would add an air of cassoulet.

But sometimes, you're just in the mood for simple, comforting, slightly scary casseroles, and Laura Hadley has you covered.

Not sure why Bagdad is spelled Bagdad and not Baghdad here. Moreover, I'm not sure why I'm at all surprised by the fact that a dish that clearly has nothing whatsoever to do with Baghdad is spelled differently.

This wraps up our tour through Favorite Recipes from Caldwell, Idaho -- starting tomorrow, we'll dive into one of these cookbooks:

• Chop Suey
  A Collection of Simplified Chinese Recipes Adapted for the American Home Chop Suey A Collection of Simplified Chinese Recipes Adapted for the American Home by Mei-Mei Ling
• Mader's: Recipes of Continental Europe
  from Milwaukee's famous German restaurant
• Amazing Magical Jell-o Desserts
  from the fine folk at General Foods
• NAHC Wild Game Cookbook, 1988
  from the North American Hunting Club, "celebrating North America's hunting youth"

You can vote over in the Facebook poll if we're friends there, or you can leave a comment with your preference here in the comments. If you're bummed out that we didn't get to Norwegian meatballs this week, you should know: NAHC has a venison Norwegian meatball recipe. It also has moose pot roast.