Dottie's Casserole

The full name of this dish is called Dottie's Zucchini, Chicken, and Rice Casserole. I have no idea who Dottie is. I found it online from About.com. There was no user rating so I had nothing to fall back on. It was a complete shot in the dark. Also, this is the first casserole I've ever made unless you count arroz con pollo as a cassole. I cooked it like one. I must find that recipe. I used to make it in college for all my girlfriends and they loved it.

This is how I made it. First you take half of you diced onions and some garlic and heat that up in a pan (large'ish). Saute. Then add the zucchini and mushrooms. Saute. Next is to add the raw rice, all the veggies (except for the tomato and remaining onions), chicken stock, parmesan cheese (we used romano), rosemary, thyme and s&p. Mix it up and transfer to a greased baking dish. I used a disposable lasagne pan. Yes, this dish was a bit of a pain the ass to make but I put Steve to work and he did all the slicing and dicing. *snicker* To continue. Saute the remaing onions, tomatoes and a little chili powder before pouring the mixture atop the other ingredients in the baking dish. Sigh. Okay, I went through all that. Waited a whole hour for it to bake at 350F. And?

Overall, it was pretty good but there are 'buts'. I had thought that the casserole would set up. It didn't at all. There was plenty of liquid still left which I didn't understand because the rice did absorb some water but not all of it. I was a little upset upon this discovery. Nevertheless, I served it up. Surprise, surprise. It wasn't that bad. It was actually kinda good and made me feel healthy to eat. Aside from the oil used to sautee, there was no fat in this dish. Unfortunately, they didn't give the nutritional breakdown. Ok. So on its own, it was okay except that it was liquidy. Then we hit it with some freshly grated romano cheese and I, for a second, thought I was eating a risotto. Yum. Steve mentioned that this dish was more reminicent of a gumbo. I thought that was interesting. With the grated cheese, the thing took on new life. It was so much better. We enjoyed it alot. Steve thought it was delicious. So there a pluses and minuses to this dish. I still wonder if the recipe was off and called for far more liquid than necessary or if that was how it was supposed to be. Though it was good, I will not be throwing this one in the rotation. Too much work and not good enough of a result. It was all about the sauce - it needed to be thickened badly. Okay guys. Cook (or not) and Eat Something Good!