This rice casserole is filled with lots of vegetables and cheese! Plus we replaced the white rice with brown rice. We also decided to use turkey sausages for the recipe instead of pork sausages.
Cooking time: 2 hours
Servings: 12
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 long brown rice
- 3 cups lightly salted chicken stock
- 4 cups zucchini, diced and / or courgette
- 2 red or green bell peppers, minced
- 1 large onion, diced
- 3 / 4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups grated spiced cheese
- 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 200 gr. turkey sausages
- 100 g low-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel)
- 1/4 cup chili pepper
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the rice in a deep baking dish. Pour the broth into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour hot broth into rice, add zucchini (and / or zucchini), bell peppers, onions and salt. Cover with foil. Bake for 45 minutes. Then remove the foil and continue cooking until the rice is soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 35-45 minutes, maybe a little longer.
3. Meanwhile, combine milk and flour in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until the milk begins to boil and thicken, 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of spiced cheese and corn, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cheese is melted. Set the saucepan aside.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the sausages. Cook, stirring and breaking the sausages into pieces with a spoon, until they are brownish, about 4 minutes.
5. When the rice is done, add the sausages and cheese sauce to the dish. Sprinkle with the remaining spicy cheese on top and add small pieces of cream cheese. Season the dish with chili pepper.
6. Return the casserole to the oven and cook until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Let the dish stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Tips and Notes:
Tip: do all the steps until step 5 and keep the dish in the refrigerator until day 1. To finish cooking, bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.
To separate the corn kernels from the cob, take raw corn and use a thin, sharp knife to cut the corn kernels into an empty bowl. If you want to use corn for soups, pancakes, or puddings, you can add 1 more step to the process. After you have cut the kernels, turn the knife over and, using the non-sharp part of the knife, scrape off the remaining kernels and juice.
Nutritional value:
Per serving: 248 calories; 9 gr. fat; 34mg cholesterol; 29 carbohydrates; 13 protein; 2 fiber; 491mg sodium; 273mg potassium.
Vitamin C (56% DV), Vitamin A (20% DV), Calcium (16% DV).