UPDATE (January 20, 2012): It’s been 12 years since we posted this recipe, and for some reason it had been about 5 years since we made it. I recently got a good price on rice by buying a 20-pound bag, so when planning our menu I wanted to include more rice and remembered this recipe. Daniel cooked it for us last night, and I’m eating leftovers for lunch as I write this, and WOW, IS THIS EVER DELICIOUS!! We must stop neglecting this recipe! I’m linking it to the Food on Fridays blog carnival; click on the broccoli (how appropriate!) to see at least 17 other recipes.
We love broccoli but aren’t so crazy about the typical broccoli casserole that contains scary “cheese food” and such, so I came up with this recipe. It’s a tasty way to turn leftover rice into something completely different, and I bet you could use other cooked grains if that’s what you happen to have on hand. To make 4 main-dish servings, you will need:
- 2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
- 10 oz. fresh or frozen broccoli (You don’t have to thaw it in advance if it’s in small pieces. If the pieces are large, thaw them so you can cut them smaller.)
- 1 small onion
- 1/2 cup mushrooms
- 8 oz. muenster or jack cheese
- 10 oz. condensed cream-of-mushroom soup (or equivalent substance homemade from healthy recipe–we haven’t gotten around to trying that yet!)
- 5 oz. milk, or 5 oz. water with powdered milk mixed in until it looks like milk (This is a handy trick for thrifty cooking. In a recipe with plenty of seasoning, powdered milk tastes just the same as liquid milk.)
- 1/2 tsp. white pepper
- 1 tsp. oregano
- olive oil
- cheese grater
- skillet
- 1-quart casserole dish or 9″ square baking pan
- mixing bowl
Chop broccoli, onion, and mushrooms. Grate cheese.
Preheat oven to 325F.
Grease baking pan with some oil. Press rice into the bottom.
Cook broccoli, onion, and mushrooms in oil in skillet, over medium heat, about 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, place soup in mixing bowl. Pour milk into soup can and stir to loosen remaining soup. Pour into mixing bowl. Mix in cheese, pepper, and oregano.
Pour a little soup mixture over rice. Then add vegetables and pour remaining sauce over top.
Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes.
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I noticed a comment attached to this recipe on Jessica Wode’s meatless and seafood recipe page on Pinterest that I thought was worth noting here:
Becca’s Broccoli Casserole – would make again, but with canned mushroom soup instead of homemade, as it was not thick enough. Also, the onions have to be diced by hand instead of the food processor because it tasted too strongly of onion juice.
Interesting. I bet you could thicken homemade mushroom soup. I wouldn’t have thought that the method of cutting affected the flavor/juiciness of onions, but now that I ponder it, I remember a number of times when onions we had frozen (which usually were sliced in the food processor because I usually freeze onions when we have a whole lot of them) seemed to have a stronger flavor than fresh onions. Hmmm. Well, good to know someone liked my recipe enough to make it again!
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