Easter Rice Pie

My life this year has been a few days behind.  For someone who prides themselves as being on top of things, this has been a bit of a strain for me. I think it is the new normal though as life with a baby is more complicated and fun then ever expected. Hence, it is almost a week after Easter and I am just now posting our Easter dessert. In fact, I made this dessert about 4 days after Easter. 

Living in southern Connecticut means there are Italians everywhere. Every other shop is a pizza place.  We have several Italian bakeries within a 10 minute radius of hour house. Thus I am continually inundated with  Italian foods and pastries.  Oh the smells!  Whenever the holidays roll around there are extra special treats advertised.  

So this year along with the Italian Easter bread, I made some Easter rice pie.  I am pretty sure this is meant to be dessert but the pie itself isn't super sweet.  The more I read and talked to others I got the feeling that this pie sits on the dinner table itself.  Side dish perhaps?

The pie came out with two distinct layers. A rice pudding on the bottom and a custard layer on top.  The best of both worlds for most.  It was fun to try something new this year even if a bit tardy. 

Easter Rice Pie

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Keywords: bake dessert rice Easter pie

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Ingredients (serves 8)

• 1 1/3 c cooked rice, cooled/room temperature
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2/3 c ricotta cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 pint half and half
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice, fresh
• 2 dashes cinnamon
• 1 9-10" pie crust (homemade or Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 9.5"-10" deep dish pie dish with dough.

Beat together sugar and ricotta.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. And then add half and half, vanilla, lemon juice, and 1 dash of cinnamon. Mix well.

Stir in rice.

Pour filling into crust and sprinkle lightly a dash of cinnamon on top.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50 minutes. The pie will be lightly browned on top and may be very slightly jiggly toward center (will set up when cool).

Let cool completely before slicing. Serve chilled or room temperature.

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Bartenhagen Chicken or Creamy Chicken and Rice Bake

Not to be too cliché but boy does time fly with a newborn. Was Easter only last week?  My mom came Sunday night and has been here all week. She has been a big help. We cleaned and organized some thing that have been sitting around for weeks (before Olivia arrived) and were really starting to bother me.  Even with the extra hands though the days have flown by and I feel like haven't gotten nearly as much done as I would have expected.  Extra snuggle time is OK with me though. 

One of the things she has been in charge of this week is dinners and dishes.  One of the meals she made wasn't something I was going to post because it is pure comfort food and requires a lot of bake time.  Not a dish I would think one needs mid April however the weather has not been cooperating. At least we haven't had snow.

Bartenhagen chicken is a family name and I am not really sure what else to call it...Creamy chicken and rice bake?  It comes from way back when in Iowa.  A good old church cookbook recipe.  Those recipes are tried and true, feed a crowd, and never seem to turn out badly. 

This is not a health food but warms the belly and the soul. You can put it in the oven with under 10 minutes of prep time and after slow cook in the oven dinner can be on the table.  My mom loaded this serving up with tons of chicken but you can vary the amounts and cuts based on your own needs. 

Bartenhagen Chicken

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Keywords: bake entree chicken rice winter

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Ingredients (serves 6-8)

• 1 cup rice (white or brown)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 1/4 milk
• 6-8 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken (I use a combination chicken thighs and breast.)
• 1 packaged dried onion soup mix

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking oil.

In large bowl mix together milk, cans of soup and rice until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Place chicken, spaced evenly into rice mixture. Tops of the chicken will still be showing.

Sprinkle the dried onion soup mix evenly across the top of all the chicken and rice mixture.

Cover with foil and bake for 2.5 to 3 hours. Rice will be soft and liquids will be bubbling. Cool slightly before serving.

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Cajun Shrimp and Rice Casserole

When I received a sample of Texmati® Brown Rice and was asked to make a cultural dish all sorts of ideas came to mind. 

I am a huge fan of ethnic cuisines and the hotter, spicier dishes the better. Initially I had some ideas of spicy Thai dishes.  I then thought of all of the wonderful Mexican dish I could make.  Burritos anyone?

But with a little internet searching I soon came up with this Cajun dish. Shrimp and rice casserole by Jenna.  Cajun is definitely its own culture.  A culture I hope to explore one day in person.

Until then I will just have to live through this casserole.  This recipe is super easy and super flavorful.  Throw all of the ingredients into a bowl, mix together, and then pour into a buttered baking dish.  The brown rice puffs up absorbing all of the liquid ingredients.

The original recipe calls for white rice but the Texmati® Brown Rice holds the flavor without adding any distinct brown rice taste.  My husband, always the picky eater, didn't even know it was brown rice. 

Now we just need some beignets.

Cajun Shrimp and Rice Casserole

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Keywords: bake entree shrimp rice

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Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 1/2 lbs raw shrimp, deveined with shells and tails off
• 2 cups Texmati® Brown Rice
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 can (10.75 oz) Campbell’s Cream of Celery soup
• 1 can (10.75 oz) Campbell’s Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 can (10 oz) diced tomatoes & green chilies
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the butter in a 12 x 9″ casserole dish and place dish in the oven so the butter melts. After the butter has melted at the bottom of the dish, remove from oven but keep oven on.

In a large bowl, combine the shrimp, raw rice (do not cook first), cream of celery soup, cream of chicken soup, tomatoes, diced yellow onion, diced green pepper, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine.

Pour mixture over the melted butter. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, stir well.

Re-cover dish and cook for an additional 20 minutes. Remove and add bread crumbs.

Re-cover and cook for a final 10 minutes, the rice should be fluffy and have absorbed all liquid.

Serve warm.

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As part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker Program, I received a free sample of RiceSelect Texmati Brown Rice although the opinions expressed in this blog post are my own. 

This post is brought to you by Rice Select.