The cream may split under the heat that you'll use to bake it. If you go with cream, you may have to go with a lower heat than you usually would, baking something like that.

If you go with a meat/red sauce then you'll have two lots of food, and you can keep the cream stew for later. Maybe freeze it, though the freezing and re-heating will cause the sauce to split, you can just add more cream or half-and-half to it during reheating to both counter that and add to the moisture that evaporates during the reheating process.

Crust - I'm not too good with that, but cheese, butter and breadcrumbs'd work. (I'd chuck some fresh-and-coarse-ground peppercorns in there for a bit of a kick.) Put everything in the oven, and heat it 'till it's almost done covered in tinfoil. Take the foil off 15 min or so before it's ready to bake the crust and you should be good to go.

Thanks, Zack. I went with the cream stew because it was just the right amount to fill a big casserole dish, and also because I chickened out and because the cream stew has oysters in it, so I thought I should use it up right away, and we are going on vacation in a couple days. It made the most wonderful casserole sound when I mixed it in with the macaroni. I put a lot of shredded cheese on top, and then plenty of bread crumbs and butter. It's in the oven now at 400 degrees, and I'm going to keep an eye on it. It looks great, so we'll see how it goes. I have a bottle of Boujolais Nouveau to mask any deficiencies.

Also - you mentioned tomatoes. You're using tomato sauce, so you want to be careful with how much you use of either ingredient. Y'see, if you use fresh tomatoes (which will rock, by the way - try for the Italian ones, if you can), use a little less sauce than you usually would as, if your baking it for a while, the tomatoes will lose most of their water. That, coupled with the water in the sauce could turn your casserole into a liquidy thing. If that happens, leave the tinfoil off for longer. You need a balance between the sauce and the fresh tomatoes, which is either less tomatoes, or less sauce. Remember, at 375^o+, the tomatoes are going to be mush anyways, which is basically sauce. :)
HTH.

I have a bottle of Boujolais Nouveau to mask any deficiencies.

Ah, now _there's_ a plan. :)
Good luck! I'm sure it'll be great.

Man, it turned out great. Next time I'm going to follow your tips and make the tomato sauce-based casserole. Thanks again for your help.

Both versions of the casseroles sound yummy to me (although I'd have to pass on the oyster part). I'll have to give them a try one of these days.

Thanks, guys!