RICE & GRAIN CASSEROLES

GRAINS ARE EXCELLENT CANDIDATES FOR casseroles for several reasons. Hearty and filling yet also fairly bland, they work well as a background for many, many flavors.

Rice is the most obvious choice for a grain casserole because it is so familiar to American cooks. We wanted to develop a recipe for chicken and rice casserole and then see if we could adapt this recipe to make the Creole specialty known as jambalaya, with its rice, sausage, and shrimp.

There are two recurring problems with most chicken and rice casseroles. The rice tends to cook unevenly, becoming hard and brittle in some spots and soggy and mushy in others. The other issue is the cooking of the chicken. The breast meat tends to dry out and overcook by the time the legs and thighs are done.

We decided to tackle the chicken issue first. The parts are first sautéed to build flavor and then placed in a baking dish with the rice and other seasonings. We solved the problem of overcooked breast meat by adding the browned legs and thighs to the baking dish at the outset. We reserved the browned breast pieces and added them to the casserole halfway through its cooking time.

At this point in our testing we decided to jettison the chicken wings from our recipe. The wings are covered with a lot of thick skin that does not take well to casseroling. Chicken wings are best grilled, so excess fat can be rendered and the skin can turn crisp. What's more, when we served the wings from the casserole they looked pretty paltry on the plate; they just didn't make up a complete serving, as did the other parts of the chicken.

With the chicken issues resolved, we turned our attention to the rice. In our first attempts, the rice on top of the baking dish became brittle and dry and the rice at the bottom of the dish was a bit soggy. We found that stirring the rice once solved this problem. To stir the rice easily we found it best to transfer the chicken thighs and legs to a plate and then stir up the rice. The chicken thighs and legs can be placed back on top of the rice along with the browned breast pieces.

We tested various liquids used to cook the rice in the casseroles. Chicken stock made a very heavy dish, while plain water was bland. Adding some wine and canned tomatoes to plain water proved to be the right balance. The acidity in the wine and tomatoes enriched the flavor of the chicken and rice without adding heaviness.

As for the choice of rice, we found that regular long-grain rice works well. Parboiled (or converted) rice was tasteless by comparison. Medium-grain rice made a creamier casserole, more like risotto, which some tasters liked and others didn't. Basmati rice cooked up fluffy and nutty and seemed to make the most sense with the Indian spice variation.

We found that jambalaya, the famed Creole rice casserole, can be made along the same lines as a chicken and rice casserole. Jambalaya contains sausage, which can be treated just like chicken-browned, removed from the pan, and then added to the baking dish with the rice and liquid. Shrimp is a bit trickier since it cooks so quickly. We found it best not to precook the shrimp but to add raw shrimp when the casserole is almost done.

We found that pearl barley, just like rice, can be used to make casseroles. Barley becomes starchier and creamier when cooked this way. Sweet Italian sausage works well with the earthy flavors of the barley. Mushrooms are another obvious addition to a barley casserole.

The last recipe in this chapter is a polenta pie, a particularly rich Italian casserole. This dish relies on cooked cornmeal mush (called polenta) to bind together a filling, which is usually tomato based. A polenta pie is akin to a lasagne (the polenta takes the place of pasta) or even a pot pie (the polenta acts like a crust). We tested various kinds of polenta pie and ended up liking those with a bottom and top crust best.

To prevent lumps from forming, we found it best to stir the cornmeal into room-temperature liquid and then add this liquid directly to simmering water. Polenta made with all water was a bit bland. Adding some chicken broth improved the flavor. We found that using all broth, however, was a mistake. It tended to make the polenta compete with, rather than complement, the filling. A ratio of four parts water to one part stock proved to be ideal.

We also found that the polenta mixture quickly became stiff and hard to work with. Adding some butter as the polenta cooks helps keep it slightly loose and improves the flavor of the polenta layers. If it still solidifies (this might happen if you take a break when assembling the casserole), you can loosen the texture by stirring in some hot water.