Twenty-five Thousand dollar casserole

$25,000 California Casserole

4 pounds veal cubes, pork cubes, or beef round steak, cubed
2/3 cup flour
2 teaspoons paprika
½ cup salad oil
3 ½ cups small cooked onions (usually available in jars in grocery stores)
4 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cups sour cream

Coat meat in flour seasoned with paprika. Pound mixture into meat and cut in 2-inch cubes. (These are the original instructions via Nancy. Usually I am hurrying when I am making this; so, I shake the cubes in a bag containing the seasoned flour.)
Brown meat in salad oil. Transfer browned meat to large skillet or casserole which can go into the oven and add onions.
In skillet used to brown meat, combine 2 cans of the chicken soup with the 2 cans of water. Bring to a boil and pour over the meat.
Bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) about 45 minutes until meat is tender. Top with butter-crumb dumplings (see recipe below).
Increase oven temperature to 425° F. and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until dumplings are a deep golden shade.
Serve with a sauce made by heating gently the other two cans of chicken soup with the two cups of sour cream just to the boiling point - beware of curdling, a byproduct of boiling or hasty heating.

Butter-Crumb Dumplings

2 cups sifted flour
4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon dry onion flakes
1 tablespoon poppy seed, if desired
¼ cup salad oil
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup bread crumbs

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and poultry seasoning. Add celery seed, onion flakes, poppy seed.
Add salad oil and milk and stir just till moistened.
Drop rounded tablespoonsful of the dough into a mixture of the butter and bread crumbs. Roll to coat, place on top of casserole and bake as directed.
Increase oven temperature to 425° F. and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until dumplings are a deep golden shade.
Serves 6 generously, 8 barely.

Alternate ways to use these delicious Butter-Crumb Dumplings:

We heat up turkey leftovers, the chunks of turkey, the leftover gravy, add some chopped carrots, a few small onions, and plunk the dumplings on top; bake in preheated 425° F. oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until dumplings are a deep golden shade.

Another possibility -- if you have lots of ground beef available and not so much in the way of beef or veal cubes, double-click here on Ground Beef with 25K-Dumplings.

This recipe has been kitchen tested.

You can find the above recipes by tapping here on the Home Cookin' index.

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