A Killer Casserole

I hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving. The NC Grissom's Turkey-Day was nice; full of family, good food and even an exciting game or two (Of course Tyler, along with Michelle, won at "Cranium" )

As is my traditional role, I was responsible for the Turkey and Stuffing. Nancy made the appetizers, pumpkin pie, applesauce and a pork loin, and... well...probably something else. Howard is traditionally responsible for the wine, and Karen, well she made everything else. The kids pitched in here and there, peeling the apples and potatoes etc.

Anyway, with all that food being prepared, pretty much all at once, we, as usual, were woefully short on oven and stove-top real estate. In years past some food is prepared in Nancy's oven and brought over but this year, since our next door neighbor was not eating till late, they were kind enough to offer the use of their oven.

Since my turkey and stuffing was in the oven early I was appointed to title of sneaker-chef. My primary task was to transport and monitor the butternut squash casserole, a new dish Karen wanted to try this year. We cut the squash in half, I ran them next door and put them in the oven, 40 Min later, I ran over and brought them back. We scooped them out, pureed them, Karen did the magic that she does, and I carted the bounty back for another 45 minutes of cooking. I went back, added the crumble topping then back to the oven for another 15 minutes.

I was not so sure about the casserole when we first talked about it but when I walked in to the neighbor's house, a glorious aroma filled my nose. It smelled more like a pumpkin pie then a "squash casserole". It was golden brown and piping hot.

Anyway, In each trip over, I managed to leave SOME article behind; The top to the casserole dish, the mixing bowl for the topping, a spoon... So when it came to cart it all back... well it was a bit of a balancing act. I had the casserole on the palm of my left hand, insulated with, as I would soon discover, an all to thin hot pad. I had a mixing bowl and serving spoon in the other. My neighbor followed me out her door with the glass lid.

About half way between their front door and ours, my left hand was starting to feel uncomfortable; REAL uncomfortable. I attempted to adjust and ended up with my pinky directly contacting the dish. The same dish that just spent about an hour in a 425 degree oven. One thing led to the other and before I knew it, half the squash was in the grass; I had hot casserole running down my pant leg and the back my right hand was covered in the scalding culinary concoction.

I did manage to save half of the casserole by setting the dish on the nearby trash can. Then I ran frantically around the yard waving my hand around like ... well like I just dumped hot casserole on it. From another viewpoint I sure it looked rather humorous. My neighbor was not laughing, and neither was I.

I ran cold water over my hand for several minutes and got cleaned up. While it was an uncomfortable and honestly a pretty nasty looking burn, despite urging by Karen to go to the doctor, I ate supper, played a game and was able to sleep reasonably comfortably Thursday night.

Friday morning, when I woke up, I put my glasses on, took a look, and told Karen "I'm going go the Urgent Care Clinic". My hand was swollen and blistered and... well kinda nasty looking. Karen was much to polite to say "I told you so" but I am sure she was thinking it.

When I got into see the doctor, after about a 90 minutes in the waiting room, he asked what had happened. I told him it was the Butternut squash casserole. He, without blinking an eye, commented that "It must have been a killer casserole."

They cleaned my hand up, put some goop all over it, then wrapped it up like a giant q-tip. I should be alright. I have to keep it clean and dressed for 7-10 days. No permanent nerve damage is expected and the scaring should be minimal.

After all is said and done, the part of the casserole that is not feeding my grass was well accepted by the family. I think the recipe is a keeper.