FRENCH CASSEROLE

People who love food are the best people - Julia Child

This was a little hard for me because I was cooking blind - I have no idea what this is actually supposed to taste like. The recipe I worked off wasn't particularly helpful, the picture looked nothing like what I finally ended up with, the quantities of the ingredients were off and basically there were lots of bits in the middle where I was just guessing and hoping for the best. Is this French? You know, I doubt it. The oregano and basil make it taste more Italian to me. The point is that it tastes really good and it is worth it in the end. What you need: 3 cups steamed rice 3 cups spinach (chopped) ½ cup cheese (grated) 3-4 onions (chopped) 4-5 tablespoons butter 2-4 tablespoons milk 3-5 tablespoons cream 1 green chilli (optional) 2- tablespoons oregano and basil (dry) 4-5 tomatoes (chopped) Salt to taste Leftover chicken/ vegetables (if any)   How to:   Note: This casserole is actually in 3 layers so this recipe will tell you how to put together each layer - then you just pile one on top of the other and bake.   A. Buttered Rice:   Take your steamed rice and fork in a couple of tablespoons of butter. Add 2 tablespoons milk and a teensy bit of salt and stir in. Personally, I’d say you can skip the salt since the butter will add salt and the layers on top trickle down and flavor the rice anyway.   Note: If you have leftover chicken or vegetables I should think chopping them up and adding them to the rice will make the casserole more interesting.   B. Spinach:   1. Take half your chopped onions and plop on to a pan with some butter heating in it. Let them turn translucent and then add your spinach.   2. Cook the spinach for just a couple of minutes – don’t worry they’ll bake more later. Add salt to taste. Drain if there’s any spinach juice in the pan and set aside.   Note: Ideally each layer should be solid-ish so that it doesn’t all melt into each other when baking – it’s nice to have 3 distinct layers of flavor to bite into. C. Tomato Sauce   1. Cook the tomatoes and the rest of your onions in water till soft. Drain the water out and dunk into a mixer. Mix to a paste.   2. Add oregano, basil. salt, cream and mix. Throw into a pot and cook for a few minutes. Cook this on an open pan so it has a thick sauce like consistency.     Note: I added some tomato puree at this stage because the wimpy orange tomatoes I had weren’t giving the sauce the nice red colour I wanted.   D. Bake                         1. Layer your rice on the bottom and spread evenly with a spatula.   2. The spinach comes second – spread evenly. Top with the tomato sauce. Pile your grated cheese on all this and thrown into an oven at 230 degrees for about 15- 20 minutes.   3. Pull out and let cool for a bit and serve.