Pork & Rice Casserole
As promised yesterday I am back today with a delicious casserole that you can make with some of your leftover cooked pork. I think that this casserole would also work well with leftover cooked chicken, beef or lamb as well.
It does use a tin of condensed cream soup. For pork and chicken I would use cream of chicken, but you can use any of them . . . cream of celery . . . cream of mushroom . . . all are good.
If you have a problem with using tinned soup, and I understand that some of you might, feel free to make a cream sauce to use in it's place substituting half of the measure of milk with some chicken stock.
Personally I am not a soup snob. I always have tins of condensed soup in my larder and consider them to be a valuable item in my store cupboard ingredients. We never eat them as soup, only as a addition to other dishes, such as this tasty casserole!
If you have leftover cooked rice, it works well here, or you can use a pouch of ready cooked rice. I used a pouch of Tilda cooked brown basmati rice.
You do soften some celery and onion for this, and you will need some leftover chopped cooked roast pork. 1 pound or 2 cups.
I had leftover cooked carrots which I chopped and added, along with some chopped cooked broccoli. You could add peas or corn, or any cooked vegetable you might have, or none at all.
They do add colour, flavour and texture however, so they are a fine addition. I wouldn't add any more than 1 cup of extra vegetables. One cup full is quite enough.
You mix it all together with some soy sauce and I like to add black pepper for a bit of a zip. With the soy sauce you shouldn't need any salt.
Spread it all into a buttered casserole. I like to top it with a bit of crunch.
Buttered dry bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, crumbled potato chips, whatever. Today I used some crushed potato chips and a bit of cheese.
Perfect, as Del-boy would say . . . Lovely Jubbly!
We enjoyed it with some additional cooked carrots and a tossed green salad on the side. I do so love a nice Caesar salad. Its my favourite of all the salads! I would be happy with just that alone!
Pork & Rice Casserole
Yield: 4
Leftovers never tasted so good. This fabulously simple casserole goes together in a flash! Feel free to add some chopped cooked vegetables to the casserole. Corn, peas, carrots, broccoli. All go very well, and add colour and flavour.
ingredients:
- 1 pound leftover roast pork (about 2 cups) diced
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion peeled and diced
- 2 sticks celery, trimmed and diced
- 325g cooked rice (2 cups)
- 1 tin of condensed Cream of chicken soup (10.5 ounces or 294g), undiluted
- 3 TBS Soy sauce
- black pepper to taste
Optional topping:
- 4 TBS cracker crumbs
- 2 TBS grated cheese
instructions:
How to cook Pork & Rice Casserole
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a shallow 2 litre/2quart casserole dish. Set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and celery and saute until the vegetables have begun to soften and the onion is translucent. Add the pork and cook for a few more minutes until it begins to lightly brown. Stir in any cooked vegetables you are using and the rice, along with the condensed soup and the soy sauce. Mix well to combine. Season with some black pepper to taste, and then spoon the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.
- Mix together the cracker crumbs and cheese for the optional topping if using and sprinkle it over top evenly.
- Cover tightly with a sheet of aluminium foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until hot and bubbling, removing the foil for the last five minutes.
- Serve hot with a vegetable on the side and a salad if desired. Delicious!
I do hope that you will try this recipe. I am sure you will love it as much as we do. If you are a smaller family, like we are, I can attest that the leftovers the day after taste even better, and you can also freeze it. No waste here! It is quick and easy and yes, delicious!
