Brown Rice Casserole
A comforting side dish, perfect with simple baked chicken when you're not in the mood for potatoes.
If you conduct an Internet search for Brown Rice Casserole, what you're generally going to find are a lot of recipes that have brown rice in them, but are not casseroles dedicated strictly to the titular ingredient. Many, if not most, will contain chicken, broccoli, cheese or ground beef - not that there's anything wrong with that.
But this was meant as an accompaniment to the Kitchen Tapestry recipe for Baked Chicken Thighs in Seasoned Broth with something more than just plain brown rice or mashed potatoes with which I would normally serve the chicken. I wanted a hearty casserole that would stand on its own and compliment the main course. Since I couldn't really find what I was looking for on the Internet, I created this.
Brown rice is a more healthful alternative to white rice, and I love them both. There are several varieties of brown rice: long-grain, short-grain, medium-grain, light brown, basmati, etc. This casserole is indifferent to the variety of brown rice you might use so long as the rice has been prepared according to the directions on the package. One way to know you're using true brown rice as opposed to a knock-off is the length of time in cooking it; anything that hasn't required soaking beforehand, or any less than 45 minutes of stovetop cooking time, and you're using something other than a rice that has not been extensively processed and polished, removing the edible husk and hence the nutritious fiber from the kernels.
Brown Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup long-grain brown rice (like, RiceSelect Texmati Long Grain Brown Rice)
- 1 cup chicken stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1- 1/2 cup chicken broth (like, Swanson's)
- 2 tbsp butter, plus 2 more for cooking
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced, about a cup
- 3 long celery stalks, finely diced, about a cup
- 1 4- 1/2 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained (like, Green Giant)
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup (like, Campbell's)
- 1 can condensed cream of celery soup (like, Campbell's)
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 10-12 grinds of freshly cracked black pepper
- non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
Instructions
- Mix the rice, chicken stock, chicken broth, 2 tbsp of butter and the tsp of salt in a sauce pan.
- Bring it to a boil, stir once, then cover the pan and reduce the heat to low, allowing the liquid to gently simmer. Cook the rice 45 minutes, or until all the liquid is absorbed.
- While the rice is simmering, combine the remaining butter and the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Sauté the onion and celery until they just start picking up a little color, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms at the last minute and heat through.
- When the rice has cooked, transfer it to a large mixing bowl, and allow to steam dry for 5-10 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.
- Add the onions, celery and mushrooms to the rice in the mixing bowl.
- Add the two soups, the garlic powder, basil, thyme, salt and pepper and mix well to combine with a rubber spatula. Use a folding technique rather than a mixing motion so as to not break down or masticate the grains of rice.
- Pour the rice mixture into a 9" x 9" baking dish treated with cooking spray and bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes until the mixture is bubbly and slightly browned on top.
