When my cousin's daughter was engaged to be married, she looked through many magazines to find the wedding dress she wanted. She ended up having a dress made, because she liked the sleeves from one dress, the neckline from another, the bodice from another and so on. That's kind of how I cook....I take inspiration from many sources and then kind of combine them and see what happens. It doesn't always turn out perfect but I've come up with a few pretty good combos over the years and this is one of them.
This recipe is somewhat inspired by the burrito bowl from Chipotle Grill, as well as 2 different recipes I saw in a cookbook.
The ingredients you need are:
2 lbs of hamburger
1/2 an onion - chopped
1/4 C taco seasoning (if you buy the big containers of taco seasoning from Sam's or Costco) if not, then 1 package of taco seasoning.
1 C grated cheddar cheese
1 C grated pepper jack cheese
1 can whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1 can chili beans (with liquid)
1 16 oz. container of sour cream
1 C uncooked rice (I used Jasmine)
2 C chicken stock/broth (or if you'd prefer, just water will do)
1/4 C (or more) chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
More sour cream and some hot sauce at the table for topping, if you wish.
I love to use my Dutch oven. I like as little clean up as possible, so when I can, I do everything in the Dutchie. Tonight I had to use 2 pots because while I had the hamburger browning in one pot, I needed rice going in another. 2 pots - big deal. Most people have at least that many in their homes. Ooops....we're talking different kinds of pots now....sorry!
Brown your hamburger and drain it. While it is browning, put one cup of rice in a small pan and 2 cups of chicken stock. I love to fix rice for any dish with chicken stock instead of water because it adds a nice flavor. But if you don't want to, or if you don't have any chicken stock on hand, go ahead and use water. The key here is to use 1 part rice to 2 parts liquid. This is one of the only times you will really catch me using a measuring cup. I love fluffy, non-sticky rice, and I've found that happens when I've been good about measuring the rice and the liquid.
For cooking your rice, once you have added the liquid, turn the burner on high. When the liquid starts to boil, reduce the head to low, put a lid on it and set a timer for 20 minutes. I keep a fork handy to fluff the rice every 5 minutes or so. You can use any kind of rice you want to but I use Jasmine because it fluffs nicely and I can get it at Trader Joe's for cheap! (No, I don't own stock in TJ's!)
Back to the Dutch oven now. Add your chopped onion to the meat, as well as your taco seasoning. No need to add water because you will get enough liquid from the can of chili beans when you add them in right now. At this point keep your burner on low and stir frequently. Turn oven onto bake at 350.
When the rice is done, there should be little to no liquid left. Just nice, fluffy rice after 20 minutes. At this point, turn the burner under the meat off. Stir the sour cream and corn into the rice. If you are using the Dutch oven as I have, spread half of your grated cheese over the meat. If you are not using a Dutchie, take a casserole dish and lightly grease it. Pour the meat into the dish and spread it out evenly, spread half of the cheese over that and now we'll continue with the rest of the recipe.
Spread the rice mixture on top of the cheese and meat. Then sprinkle the chopped cilantro over that and top with the remainder of your grated cheese. Bake uncovered in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes.
Ready to go into the oven
Here it is plated with a side salad.
Variations: I used hamburger tonight but this would go well with stew meat cut into real small pieces, shredded beef, chicken or even pork. You could also add jalapenos if you wanted to kick it up a little.
For the next post I will tackle something more difficult like the perfect Strawberry Lemonade or some such thing!
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