Baked Rice

Do you know Tastespotting? I'm addicted. This rice dish is loosely based on a Tastespotting recipe.

1 cup long grain rice
1 T olive oil
1 finely chopped sweet onion
1 can or some fresh sliced mushrooms
2 cups chicken stock or a mixture of stock and water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
grated sharp cheddar cheese

saute onion in olive oil. When it is nicely brown (I WAY over browned mine!) add in rice and toast until golden.

Cook rice as you usually do. I use a Pampered Chef microwave rice cooker. I love it. It's a no brainer - you can stick the rice in the microwave and forget it until your food is ready - even up to 1 hour before! Just cook it for about 13 minutes and leave it in to steam until you are ready.

Mix in mushrooms and place rice in a 9x13 sprayed pyrex pan. Dot top with undiluted soup and bake at 350 for about ½ hour. Top with cheese and bake for about 15 more minutes. I use a large pan for maximum crunchiness. If you don't like yours so crunchy - cook for about 15 minutes the first go round and use a smaller dish.

I am not really one for making side dishes, even though I love them, usually more than the main dish. Everyone liked this. We had it with some boneless beef ribs at what may be our last grilled meal of the season.

I explored some baked rice dishes in which you do not cook the rice beforehand. I smell a yummy experiment coming up!