Chicken and Risotto Casserole
You can serve this dish with a leafy green salad and some crusty bread for the perfect Sunday supper.
Serves 8 | Total Time: More Than 60 Mins
Ingredients
- 2 boxes Applegate Naturals® Chicken Patties
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Spanish onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 6 basil leaves minced
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 3 cups chicken broth (reserve ½ cup)
- 2 lbs fresh spinach or 10 oz. bag frozen spinach – thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- Tomato sauce - recipe follows
- 1 package Applegate Naturals® Provolone Cheese
Fresh Tomato Sauce*
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium Spanish onion minced (approx 2 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 28-oz. can chopped plum tomatoes
- 12 basil leaves rough chopped
- Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to Taste
* SUBSTITUTE 16 oz. jar of tomato sauce
Instructions
Rice:
Spinach:
- In a medium sauce pan, sauté onion, pepper, and garlic in olive oil until golden.
- Add basil, rice, salt and pepper and sauté until the rice starts to get translucent (about 2 minutes).
- Add half the stock and simmer while stirring until all the liquid is incorporated into the rice mixture.
- Repeat this step with the remaining stock, pull off the heat and add the parmesan cheese stirring as you go until it is evenly mixed.
- Set aside.
Spinach:
- In a medium pan sauté garlic in the oil until golden.
- Add spinach until wilted (approx 30 seconds).
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside
Assembly:Spread the rice into a heat proof casserole dish large enough to fit 8 chicken patties.
- Add stock and distribute evenly among the rice mixture.
- Spread out patties evenly over the rice mixture.
- Ladle one heaping tablespoon of sauce over each patty.
- Distribute the spinach on top of the 8 patties.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
- Cut about 4 slices of provolone cheese in thin strips and crisscross over chicken for the last two minutes of baking.
Now … gather up 8 friends (or 4 big eaters) and celebrate the magic of a delicious chicken casserole!