Recipe #38: rice and bean casserole (aka “casserole”)

 When I was a young idealistic vegetarian, I was obsessed with this book:


I was obsessed with the personal 20th anniversary introduction, the part of the book called “Recipe for a Personal Revolution” (note: there was a chapter within, which almost inspired me to drop out of grad school and become Frances Moore Lappé’s groupie)(additional note: I met FML at a book reading and signing event in Toronto during this time, and she cautioned me to not make any rash decisions about grad school, which actually convinced me to continue my studies. Sigh.), the parts about food insecurity and the real reasons for hunger in the world (spoiler alert: it’s poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, and powerful corporations and governments keeping the status quo), and, of course, the recipes!

Today’s blog entry is a distant relation to a recipe in this book. It’s so distant, I’m not sure which one it was based on. I think it may be this one, because it has a few of the same ingredients and there is a coupon from the PEI Welcome Wagon from 2001 for hair styling at a long-gone salon as a bookmark at the recipe page:


So today’s original “casserole” may have been FML’s Enchilada Bake, but who knows? I never made her version, as far as I can recall. I started cooking rubbishly as soon as I started cooking, and I would have taken a look at this recipe and its 16 (sixteen!) ingredients and thought to myself, I bet I can make a darn good version of this with fewer than half of those ingredients! And you know what? I was right!

Here is my 5 (five!)—or 6 (six!), if you include boiling water—or 7 (seven!), if you have fresh cilantro (I don’t today)—or 8 (this is getting silly), if you include the optional/not optional sour cream garnish—ingredient version that never fails to please a crowd!

Ingredients:


As mentioned above, if you have fresh cilantro and it doesn’t taste like soap to you, add that in. It’s a great addition. Sure wish I had some!

Directions:

Start by making brown rice the best way, like pasta. Boil a large pot of water on high, add a cup of brown rice to the boiling water, lower the heat to medium high-ish, and simmer with the lid off for 30 minutes. Strain the rice for 10 seconds, return it to the pot, put the lid on, put it off the direct heat and let the rice steam in its warm pot for 10 minutes.

When fully cooked, mix in the drained can of black beans (or any beans), frozen corn kernels, and chopped fresh cilantro if you have it (I, sadly, do not):


Add a nice big glug of salsa:


Mix it all together and spread out in a glass ovenproof container:


Add grated cheddar cheese to the top:


Pop it, uncovered, into a preheated oven at 375F:


For about, oh, half an hour? Or so?


Well that’s perfect! Nicely cooked and golden brown cheese on top!

If it wasn’t perfect, I would turn on the broiler and sizzle the cheese a bit more.

Serve as is, preferably with a healthy dollop of sour cream, and a side of the eternal wisdom of Frances Moore Lappé:



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