I made this casserole a few weeks ago and will make it again tonight. It was really good. Worth holding onto the recipe.
Brown Rice Casserole via The Greens Cookbook
4 cups cooked brown rice (1 1/3 cup raw)
half a block of tofu (8 or 9 ozs)
1 large onion
2 medium carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 green pepper (I omitted)
2 medium zukes
6 ozs mushrooms
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 cup mush. broth, veg. stock or water
6 ozs grated cheese (jack, muenster, cheddar, gouda, etc.)
pepper
parsley or other fresh herb for garnish
Cook rice if you don't happen to have leftovers. Drain tofu. Chop the onion, carrots, celery, pepper and zucchini into pieces that are roughly 1/2 inch square. Chop up the mushrooms too and lastly the tofu, all about the same size.
Heat the olive oil and butter, and fry the onion over medium heat until it is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, nutritional yeast, cumin and salt. Stir until blended and cook for 1 minute; then add the carrots, celery and green pepper. Add 1/2 cup liquid, cover the pan and braise the veggies until they have begun to soften, about 5 minutes. Then add the zuke and the mushrooms and cook another 7 - 10 minutes. The veggies should be nearly cooked. If the pan gets dry during the cooking, add a bit more liquid.
Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the veggies with the rice and cheese. Season with salt and ground pepper. Gently mix in the tofu and put everything into a casserole dish that has been lightly oiled or buttered. Cover with foil and bake for 1/2 hour. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes. Serve garnished with herbs.
* As noted, I left out the green pepper. I did add a bit more zuke and mushrooms, and maybe celery too. It was more liquidy than I thought it would be. Because of that I cooked it longer with the foil off.
For the mushrooms I used leftover a shitake/button mix that I sauteed up with shallot the day before. Both Pablo and I noted how yummy the mushroom flavor was as we were eating it, so we'll see how it turns out tonight when I follow this recipe more closely.
Oh, and I almost always double the garlic quantity in recipes.
