Arancini casserole

Arancini casserole

Last night I made this wonderful casserole.  It is based on arancini, a fried, stuffed, Italian rice ball.  It was so delicious!  The sausage adds a spiciness that is mellowed by the rice.  The peas add a sweet little pop to each bite...yum!

I made two casseroles out of this recipe.  Each casserole is 4 servings.  If you need more servings, you could use a 9 X13 pan and make one big casserole, just adjust the cooking time to 20 min with the foil and 10 without.

• 3 bags rice
• 1/2 lb (8 oz) Italian bulk sausage
• 1/2 lb (8 oz) 90% lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped 
• salt and fresh pepper
• 4 oz frozen peas (1/2 container)
• 16 oz tomato sauce (I used Classico Roasted Garlic sauce)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded parmigiano cheese
• cooking spray
• 4 T breadcrumbs
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella

Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add ground beef and onion and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, parmigiano, egg, and4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky.

Spray 2 9X9 casserole dishes with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too.

Take 1/4 of the rice mixture and cover the bottom of one of the casserole dishes,  pressing to form bottom layer.  Repeat in second dish.

Pour half of the meat and peas mixture in one dish and half in the other.

Sprinkle 1/2 c. of the mozzarella on top of each.  Take half of what is left of the rice mixture and spread it on top of meat mixture on one casserole, repeating with the second casserole.  Top with remaining 4 oz of tomato sauce (2 oz each), mozzarella (1/2 c. each), and breadcrumbs (2 T. each).

Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes.  REmove foil and bake 5 minutes more.

Enjoy!

Another couple recipes

So, I haven't blogged in a while, but that's because I've been sick with mono and have been too tired to do ANYTHING! However, I did get to try two new recipes this week.

On Sunday I made spaghetti with smothered onions. Another one that is copyrighted, but I can tell you for the most part what I did 'cause I changed it so much. I caramelized two large sweet onions with olive oil and margarine. When they were almost done, I added a splash of cooking sherry. While the onions were cooking, I cooked my pasta. Once they were caramelized I added about a cup of frozen peas to thaw and cook with the onions. Once they were done, I tossed the pasta and the vegetables together. I finished it with a little shredded gruyere. It was a really good recipe, however a little less filling because there was no meat.

I also made a new casserole this week. It was called Macaroni and Cheese with Hot Dogs. And that is basically what it was: homemade macaroni and cheese with cut up peeled hot dogs mixed in. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either and I'll probably never make it again, so I won't bother posting it (its copyrighted anyway).

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of either!