Over the winter holidays, my wife and I took a trip down to the Black Mountains in North Carolina to hike our faces off. We stayed in a little town atop a ridge called “Little Switzerland,” and if you read our posts frequently, you’re probably not surprised that is where we picked to stay. When planning our trip, we noticed the town sort of shuts down in winter due to weather/lack of visitors, so we packed all the food we could need for our 4 nights. In addition to bringing our own ingredients, we brought also our caquelon to make Fondue one night and our trusty Cast Iron Skillet!
For this meal, we decided to rely on the aforementioned skillet entirely. We began by sauteeing all of our ingredients (adding different ones at different points in the process for even cooking) before topping with cheese and finishing in the oven to turn our skillet meal into a casserole (hence “Casterole“).
We plan to recreate this (specifically, a vegetarian version with portobello mushrooms standing in for the mutton) in the near future.
Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
- 8 oz Mutton (other meats will also work)
- A Sweet Potato
- An Eggplant
- Corn
- Arugula
- Garlic (we used 5 large cloves)
- Butter
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Cheddar Cheese
Method:
- Wash and dice your sweet potato into small cubes.
- Heat some butter in your pan, and then add in your sweet potatoes, and stir occasionally as they cook and soften.
- As your sweet potato cooks, dice your eggplant, and peel and slice your garlic.
- When your sweet potato starts to turn a vibrant orange and soften a little, add your eggplant and garlic. Stir to combine, and add more butter as necessary.
- As your eggplant, sweet potato, and garlic cook, dice your meat. Here’s a good time to preheat your oven to 350 degrees F as well.
- When your potatoes are almost ready, add in your meat and corn, and stir. Sauté until your meat browns. Sprinkle in a little salt and pepper at this point as well.
- Place a few copious handfuls of arugula on everything after your meat has browned, and stir it in as it wilts.
- Dice or grate your cheddar cheese, and once your arugula has wilted and is well incorporated, cover your dish with cheese.
- Stash in the oven for 5-10 minutes to melt.
- Remove from the oven, plate, devour, and enjoy!
