Baked rice

Sometimes I overlook the most basic recipes I make for my family when I’m trying to come up with a food column idea. 

That’s the case with today’s baked rice dish. 

For several weeks, I’ve been promising my family I’d make this favorite rice pilaf recipe. Several times I had it planned but something came up every time, and I’d put the ingredients back in the pantry for another day.

But recently, I had a yummy beef dish in the slow cooker for the night’s supper and knew the baked rice would be a wonderful complement, and it was!

I first tried baked rice with mushrooms at covered dish meals at church. For a few years there, I could expect to see it at every meal we had at church. (Ever notice how recipes seem to go in cycles?)
I was pleased when several church members included their version of the dish in the church cookbook we did in 1999 because I wanted to make it myself.

I put this recipe in the cookbook I made for my family several years back, and in the note on the bottom I wrote that it’s a combination of recipes from my church friends Julie Wells and Amy Lemmons Browder.

The prep time for this recipe is minimal. You basically saute the onions and brown the rice in butter, then mix the ingredients and bake, covered, until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.

My family really loves this recipe, so much, in fact, that I made a double recipe last week so no one would complain if a certain brother or sister got a really big serving. I also knew how good it would be warmed up as leftovers the next few days, and it was. The next time I make a double recipe, however, I will cook it in two dishes rather than one really large dish because the cook time was quite a big longer, and we were hungry!

This recipe would make a wonderful side dish for holiday dinners.

lisa@wilsontimes.com | 265-7810

Baked brown rice with mushrooms

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3  to 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cans beef broth (I use Swanson’s Natural Goodness, 14.5 ounces each)
• 1  4 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sauté finely chopped onions in butter on medium-high heat. Add uncooked rice and lightly brown, stirring often. If it sticks, turn down heat.

Place in 1 1/2- to 2-quart casserole dish. Add beef broth. Drain water from mushrooms and add to mixture. Stir well. 

Cover with aluminum foil and cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.