I grew up with a casserole called Green Rice. My grandmother made it, my mother made it. It was an easy recipe for family dinners that could be done ahead and reheated, and served as everyone's comfort food. I had forgotten all about the recipe until I started on a new project involving old recipe cards. My mother showed up at my house with an armload of cards including the lost but not forgotten Green Rice recipe. This project ended up becoming a Web site about old recipe cards and the stories of the people who wrote them down. The site is called, appropriately, Green Rice.

Green Rice is a dish that appears in many cultures' cuisines. Greens of all kinds and rice of different types work together in pilafs, risottos, and cold salads. You can experiment by substituting in the next recipes different greens and herbs – spinach, arugula, chard, parsley, cilantro, basil – and create your own family tradition.

This is the original version from my grandmother's recipe card. Any long grain white rice will work and you can steam the rice instead of boiling it. The cheese was what my mother called “longhorn”,

a mild cheddar, but you could substitute a sharper cheddar.

 

2 cups washed rice

16 cups boiling, salted water

2 cups grated cheese

½ tsp. salt

2 cups milk

1 cup finely chopped parsley

2 eggs beaten

½ cup melted butter

1 medium onion, chopped

 

Cook rice in boiling, salted water. Drain water and combine with other ingredients.

Put in 2 large buttered casseroles and bake covered in moderate oven (350° for about 30 minutes).

 

Serves 10-12 as a side dish. To make a smaller amount, cut the recipe in half.