Creamy Shrimp Rice Bake

We REALLY bask this comfort nutrient casserole. It is packed amongst tons of shrimp, rice as well as veggies, surrounded amongst a cheesy cream sauce. There are three (easy) steps to this recipe, but all tin displace last done ahead of fourth dimension as well as popped into the oven at dinner time. This recipe makes a LOT (serves 8)and it reheats really well!!

1½ cups UNcooked long grain rice
3 cups chicken broth (see note)
1 tablespoon butter.

In a large as well as deep sauce pan, melt the butter as well as pose the RAW rice inwards amongst the butter. Stir as well as allow the rice kernels toast inwards the butter until they simply kickoff to plow vivid white, as well as thus add together 3 cups chicken broth, stir, COVER and plow estrus downward super low as well as educate the rice for twenty minutes. After twenty minutes, take away from estrus as well as fluff amongst a fork. Set aside.

Saute the next together:
1/2 loving cup butter (see authorities annotation below)
3 celery stalks chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 greenish onions sliced thinly
1 blood-red bell pepper (optional)
2 cups frozen mixed veggies (or your favorite fresh veggies)

Saute, gently for virtually 10 minutes. The final 2-3 minutes, add together 1½ pounds of raw, peeled, de-veined as well as washed shrimp as well as educate alone until they kickoff to plow pink. Don't over cook, at this phase because they volition educate the balance of the means inwards the oven.  I often skip this mensuration as well as exercise pre-cooked shrimp (see authorities annotation below).

In a bowl, gently mix the following:
Cooked shrimp
Cooked rice
Sauteed veggies
(2)10¾ oz. cans cream of shrimp soup (Undiluted)
1/4 teaspoon dark pepper
1 cup milk
2 cups Colby-Jack Cheese shredded (see authorities annotation below)

Place mixture in greased 10 x fifteen baking dish as well as sprinkle amongst breadstuff crumbs that convey been sauteed inwards a piddling butter. Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes or until hot as well as bubbly.

NOTE: The master copy recipe said to pose all of this nutrient into a 9x13 pan, but it didn't all fit, thus I've had meliorate luck baking it inwards a 10x15 pan (or TWO smaller baking dishes).

NOTE: It mightiness audio similar 1/2 loving cup butter is a lot, but retrieve that is for 8 servings (1 tablespoon per serving) and ½ loving cup of butter is necessary for the correct sauce consistency.

NOTE: Make certain yous exercise Colby-Jack cheese.  Cheddar (only) is non a proficient pick here, as well as the Monterrey Jack cheese (in the Colby-Jack blend) is super creamy.  You could e'er exercise American Cheese, that would move good too. Just brand certain your pick of cheese is creamy when melted.

NOTE: I don't convey a employment finding cream of shrimp soup, but if yous do, cream of celery soup would move good too.

NOTE: For the breadstuff crumb topping, Just pose a distich of tablespoons of butter inwards a kid pan along with 2 cups of bread crumbs (plus a pinch of kosher common salt as well as a pinch of dark pepper as well as a pinch of cayenne pepper) and stir them until they dice toasty brown, as well as thus sprinkle on the casserole earlier yous bake it.

NOTE: If yous are using fresh shrimp, ignore the following note, but if yous are using frozen shrimp, it is extremely important that yous thaw the shrimp inwards a colander overnight inwards the refrigerator (do non speed thaw inwards running water). It is unbelievable how  much H2O volition drain out of the frozen shrimp (both raw AND cooked), as well as that water will brand your casserole SOUPY as well as SOGGY. Let the shrimp thaw overnight, as well as thus the adjacent day, rinse them as well as pat them dry. I unremarkably exercise medium size shrimp for this recipe (40-50 shrimp per pound).

NOTE: This casserole tin displace also last done amongst chicken instead of shrimp, simply alter the cream of shrimp soup to cream of chicken soup, as well as alter the shrimp to cooked chicken.