Tetrazzini Casserole

Tetrazzini casserole is a savory American casserole often prepared with non-red meat, and other ingredients like mushrooms, onions, spaghetti or noodles, sherry or white wine, and cheese. Onions and mushrooms are sautéed in butter before combining them with cooked meat and noodles. The meat used in the casserole may consist of turkey, chicken, tuna, or ham. The casserole can be made both in oven and Crockpot, and is usually flavored with cheese based sauce prepared with cheese, dry sherry, and flour, which is often combined with sautéed mix of mushrooms and onions. A few recipes suggest serving the casserole after garnishing it with chopped parsley or paprika.  

Commonly Used Ingredients and Preparation Overview of Tetrazzini Casseroles

A popular chicken tetrazzini casserole recipe suggests the use of butter, sliced mushrooms, flour, light cream, dry sherry, chicken broth, salt, parmesan cheese, cooked chicken, spaghetti or egg noodles, and fresh parsley.

The casserole is prepared by arranging layers of broken spaghetti, chicken, and cheese based sauce in a casserole saucier. The layers are repeated again and the casserole is baked in oven after sprinkling some cheese on the top. It is served hot after garnishing it with chopped parsley. The cheese sauce used in this casserole is prepared by sautéing mushrooms in butter, and then stirring in flour, chicken broth, salt, sherry, cheese, and light cream.    

Tetrazzini Casserole Recipe Variations

A few popular variations of tetrazzini casserole have been discussed hereunder:

• Tuna based casserole- The recipe for this casserole suggests combining boiled spaghetti with cheddar cheese soup, Tabasco sauce, milk, onions and tuna, and transferring the entire content into a greased casserole saucier. The casserole is baked after topping it with some cheese. It is served after garnishing it with some paprika. An alternative is to refrigerate the casserole for a day and cook it the next day; this would allow the flavors to infuse properly, hence making the casserole very delectable. The Tabasco sauce used in this dish refers to a hot US based sauce made with Tabasco peppers, salt, and vinegar.

• Crockpot ham tetrazzini casserole- the casserole is prepared by combining together celery soup, milk, cheese, cooked ham pieces, butter sautéed sliced mushrooms, and dry white wine in a slow cooker or Crockpot. The casserole is cooked for a few hours before stirring in a mix of cooked spaghetti and butter. It is then served hot after sprinkling some grated cheese on the top.

• Turkey based casserole- cooked spaghetti is combined with parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese before stirring in diced cooked turkey, pimientos, sautéed mix of onions and mushrooms, mushroom soup, chicken broth, dry sherry and seasonings. The entire content is then transferred into a greased baking dish and the tetrazzini casserole is baked after topping it with left out cheeses.

Trivia

It is believed that the name tetrazzini has been derived from Luisa Tetrazzini, an Italian opera star.