Neapolitan Rice

This rice casserole dish is a great way to introduce brown rice to your family and a tasty way to serve spinach. And, for an added bonus, it's a no-fail, no-mess way to cook rice. 

This recipe is from a Canadian Living recipe book that I was given years ago. I rediscovered it when I was going through recipe books and binders in an attempt to reorganize and streamline my recipe collection. I've come across a few recipes that I haven't made in ages but really like. This rice casserole dish is one of them. Here's how you make it...

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice

1 10 oz package of fresh spinach, chopped (or 1-10 oz pkg chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken or beef stock

1/2 tsp dried basil

Pepper

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese

What you do

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 10 cup casserole dish.

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onion and cook until softened.

Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 min, stirring occasionally.

 Stir in the rice, spinach, tomatoes, stock, basil and some pepper. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low, put the lid on the pot and simmer for 10 min.

Transfer the simmered mixture to the greased casserole dish. Stir in one cup of the grated cheese. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Cover the casserole dish and bake at 350 F for 15 min. Uncover and bake for about 20 min longer. 

I like to take a small taste at this point to test if the rice is done. If it isn't done, continue to bake a bit longer.

Serve with baked chicken, fish, sausage or tofu.
Leftover rice can be reheated and stuffed in pitas (alone or with any leftover meat). Or, use leftovers cold and roll up into rice wraps with toasted, slivered almonds.

 Enjoy!

Michele, RD