Con Queso Rice

 
Con Queso Rice

Ingredients:

2 cup black beans
1 1/2 cups white rice, uncooked
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
2 small onions, chopped
1 four-ounce can, chopped green chilies
1 fresh jalapeno, chopped
1 pound Jack cheese, shredded
1 pound cottage cheese


Directions:

The original directions call to cook beans from scratch, but for ONE cup of beans?  Use canned, drain and rinse.

Cook rice with 3 cups of water, a pinch of salt, for twenty minutes.  Cool slightly.

Mix rice, drained beans, garlic, onions, and chilies in big bowl.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 

Butter a large casserole.  Cover bottom with a layer of rice, a layer of the bean mixture, then a layer of cheese and cottage cheese and repeat to the level you wish.  End with a layer of rice.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Add final sprinkle of cheese and cook 5 minutes more.

Serves 6
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NOTES:

This recipe came originally from Diet for a Small Planet, a hippy Bible for wholesome cooking in the late '60's, early '70's.  The original recipe was bland and this has been spiked a bit more.

I didn't have white rice (I usually use Basmati) so I used a frozen Trader Joe's brown rice, which was fine, but I think overall, the recipe would benefit more visually and taste wise with white.  I used about four cups cooked, which fell a bit short of the quantity it should be.  This lead the layers to be thinner than I think it should be.

I used one can of black beans and that was more than enough.  It gave a sprinkling effect of beans throughout the rice, little dots of color and didn't seem excessive. 

I used one large clove of garlic, not 3, and a small onion.  I sautéed the jalapeno and onion briefly, then added the garlic at the very end.  I wanted it pre-cooked briefly rather than raw, even though it would bake in the oven later.  I mixed all of this with the beans and rice.

I also used small containers of cottage cheese.  I half thought about blending it to get rid of curds.  A pound of cottage cheese would have been the large container.  I would never eat that much, so I used about three small containers, less than half a pound, and by mixing it in with the rice and beans, you didn't notice the texture.

The store I was at didn't sell Jack cheese in a block, so I used mixed pre-shredded Cheddar Jack mix.  I think it needs something sharper with the Jack, because even with the chilies the dish was bland.

You were supposed to end with a layer of rice, I ended with a layer of cheese for the crusty effect, and all told, I made about two layers in a 9 x 13 casserole Pyrex dish.

I can see this as a side dish with grilled meats.  It's a bit much as a main, and I only ate a small portion then others ate it as leftovers. 

The dish needs something else.  The chilies don't produce enough heat.  A shake of just about anything would help:  cayenne powder, chipotle powder, hot sauce, salsa.