The Eternal Comfort of the Casserole

Understanding the history and influence of the casserole

2007 was the year of the casserole. I made a sausage ziti casserole in my mother-in-law’s large empty kitchen, in the house where my father-in-law lay dying. As I layered the sausage and noodles with red sauce and sour cream, I could hear him moaning in pain upstairs. I remember those casseroles specifically because, in those days of grief, we did not o…