Hot Mess (a.k.a. Broccoli Brown Rice Casserole)

As I was making this dish, I had the following thought: "I'm going to have to throw this out at eat popcorn for dinner."

Occasionally, disasters happen. Sometimes you can foresee those disasters before you're even finished with the dish. You're looking at it thinking that you've definitely messed up somewhere and things just don't look right. You start coming up with alternatives while you're standing at the stove.

In this case, I was tweaking a recipe from Food Renegade. I thought I had read the recipe correctly, but it turns out I hadn't. I was also missing an ingredient. I did things in the wrong order. My roux looked more like a paste because I ran out of milk. I was convinced that there was no way this dish as I had prepared it would be edible. But sometimes food surprises you.

Notes: I've written the recipe the right way and not the bastardized way I actually did it. This dish isn't pretty, but it's comforting. It's also a great way to use up any vegetables you have on hand. I just included the vegetables I used, so feel free to use what you like. It would work with frozen veggies as well and you wouldn't even have to defrost them.

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked brown rice
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 cup chopped or grated zucchini
8 oz. of grated cheese (I used a smoked cheddar, which was excellent), plus more for sprinkling
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons of flour
1 1/2 cups of milk
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your baking dish by buttering the bottom or spraying it with cooking spray. Add the cooked rice and vegetables to the dish and set aside.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until your have a roux. Pour in the milk while whisking and let the mixture thicken slightly. Season with salt and pepper. Then stir in your 8 oz. of cheese and let it melt until you have a smooth cheese sauce.

Pour the cheese sauce over the rice and vegetables and mix everything together. Top it with the remaining cheese, cover it in foil, and bake for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes is up, take the foil off and let it bake just a few more minutes to brown the cheese on top. Serve hot and enjoy!

It's a hot mess, but it sure is tasty.