I've spent the last few days trying new recipes out, and added a few dishes to my repetoire. Tonight I took a recipe from pinterest and doctored it up for my husband (here is the original recipe http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/07/31/zucchini-rice-gratin/ ). It was the perfect dish in that it was hearty, healthy, and relatively easy! I had baked a chicken a few weeks ago (see older posts) and I froze left over meat we didnt eat. So, tonight, I defrosted it and added it in! Here is a look at the finished product: (sorry I'm not great at presentation...)
Here are the ingredients:
2 Cups brown rice
1 3/4 chicken broth
Fresh basil
Thyme
Olive oil
Salt/Pepper
2-3 Zuccini
4+ roma tomatoes (or smaller tomatoes)
Roasted Chicken breast (as much meat as you like)
2 stalks Celery
Garlic
3 small Shallots
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
2 lightly beaten eggs
I am not big into giving amounts for salt, pepper, olive oil, cheese etc -- I feel like those are all based on personal taste!
First, I used chicken broth (instead of water) to make the brown rice. I followed the rice recipe - so depending on the amount of people you are cooking for you may want more/less. I chopped up a stalk of celery and threw it in with the rice as well for flavor. While the rice was cooking, I chopped up zuccini and tomato. I took 3 cookie sheets and coated them in olive oil, and salted/peppered them. I placed all the sliced vegtables on the sheets. I added a little garlic to the zuccini sheets and added salt/pepper on top of all veggies. I put all threee sheets in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until browned. I turned the zuccini half way through to prevent burning. While they were roasting in the oven, I put some olive oil, shallots and a stalk of celery in a saute pan and cooked until the shallots were clear. Next, I took a bowl, dumped the rice into a bowl and added chopped fresh basil. I dumped the celery and shallots in next. Pour the beated eggs in, 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese (give or take) a little mozzarella, add some salt, pepper, thyme, olive oil (just a dash) and pulled chicken meat. Mix the mixture together. Grease the bottom of a baking pan (one suitable to the amount of food you've prepared). Put about half of the rice mixture down in the pan, and then layer zuccini on top. Sprinkle cheese on top. Add more rice, and then more cheese and zuccini. Layer tomatoes next, then any remaining vegtables and cheese. Put in the oven at 450 for about 20-30 minutes or until its bubbling and browning on the edge.
This was the perfect dinner, and my husband ate half of the pan!
