Squash and bean casserole recipe
I’ve been making this squash and bean casserole since I was first given the recipe at a family picnic during my more wayward high school years* so many years ago. It’s a simple, easy to make dish that still makes for a hugely satisfying meal. Layers of wild rice, vegetables, beans and cheese are all baked to melted cheese perfection for a terrific, savory side or if you’re like me, a filling, nutritious dinner.
I first tried this casserole (as a side) at our family’s yearly Fourth of July picnic. A block party in our backyard, our yearly get-together wasn’t just packed with friendly neighbors from around the block, but coworkers, interns, students, teachers, and occasionally, an old college roommate or two from way back to my parent’s college days. One such guest, a graduate student — whose name unfortunately, has been lost to the ages — wrote out a lengthy recipe for me when I mentioned to him how good I thought his casserole was. His spelling might have been sketchy, but he was kind enough to draw up a three-page recipe, complete with a layer diagram, for his coworker’s dumbass kid. Pretty cool.
Handwritten squash and bean casserole recipe
When I decided to write up his recipe for a post, I realized that over time I had been steadily corrupting the original casserole through years of unchecked tweaking, substitution and reckless improvisation. I had unknowingly created a sort of King James version of the recipe that now deviated substantially from the squash and beans scripture I was initially given. So to really honor the original recipe, I needed to somehow locate those original pages again… and for that I needed to call my mom.
My mom, like many moms I’m sure, maintains a vast library/treasury of all things me. She archives everything from bronzed baby shoes and second-grade report cards (all happy faces, thank you very much) to Columbia House overdue notices** and medical records — it’s all there. Sure enough, she had managed to preserve all three pages. Papers and childhood artifacts aren’t actually allowed to be checked out of course, but she did text me the official archival photos from which I was able to reconstruct the original recipe.
* In high school, I practically lived in detention and/or in-school suspension during my junior and senior years and was on a first name basis with many of the school’s faculty and key administrative personnel for years afterwards. Also, to the suspicious weekend janitor who accidentally set off the contraption I rigged up in my friend’s locker, my sincere apologies. As you suspected, I was not, in fact, doing yearbook stuff.
** Columbia House was a mail order company that sent cassettes and compact discs by mail to anyone who wanted 12 albums for a penny and years of negative option billing hell. To my niece and other younger readers: Cassettes were a way to listen to music on magnetic tape, sort of like VHS for a VCR… hmm, right. We’ll skip that one for now. Compact Discs (or CDs) were a way to listen to music by having lasers read very tiny bumps on plastic discs. Think of your Monster High DVDs — it’s just like that. Mail is like a government Amazon that uses little duck stickers instead of money. Yes, I know none of this makes any sense.
Image: ForkingSpoon
Squash and bean casserole recipe
This scrumptious squash and bean casserole is layered with fresh, seasonal vegetables and baked to melted cheese perfection.
Ingredients
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sauté the onions and garlic
In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onion in the butter for 5 to 6 minutes or until the onion becomes soft and fragrant. Add in the garlic and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the rice and bean mixture
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the onion and garlic mixture with the garbanzo beans, kidney beans, green pepper, oregano, thyme and basil. Add the cooked wild rice to the bean mixture and toss together with a spatula or wooden spoon until they are well combined. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, toss the cheddar, Monterey Jack and mozzarella together with the grated Parmesan. Set aside.
Layer the casserole
In a large 9-by-13-inch pan, add about 1/2 of the rice and bean mixture, pressing down firmly with a spatula or slightly smaller pan covered in plastic wrap. For the second layer, evenly place about 1/2 of the zucchini and squash. Slightly overlap the slices with each other until the rice and bean mixture is completely covered. Cover the squash and zucchini layer with about 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Make another layer with the remaining rice and bean mixture (pressing down firmly again) and place the remaining squash and zucchini slices. Cover that layer using about 1/2 of the remaining cheese, but now make an additional layer of the red onion slices and cover with the last of the cheese mixture. Cover the casserole dish and cook for 45 minutes. Brown the top layer of cheese under the broiler if desired.
Notes
This casserole can be adapted for different vegetables and beans very easily — I routinely make it when I'm trying to use up older produce from my refrigerator and pantry. Sometimes in fall, I'll just randomly grab any random squash that catches my eye at the farmer's market or at the supermarket knowing that I have a foolproof recipe to cook them at home.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sauté the onions and garlic
In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onion in the butter for 5 to 6 minutes or until the onion becomes soft and fragrant. Add in the garlic and cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the rice and bean mixture
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the onion and garlic mixture with the garbanzo beans, kidney beans, green pepper, oregano, thyme and basil. Add the cooked wild rice to the bean mixture and toss together with a spatula or wooden spoon until they are well combined. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, toss the cheddar, Monterey Jack and mozzarella together with the grated Parmesan. Set aside.
Layer the casserole
In a large 9-by-13-inch pan, add about 1/2 of the rice and bean mixture, pressing down firmly with a spatula or slightly smaller pan covered in plastic wrap. For the second layer, evenly place about 1/2 of the zucchini and squash. Slightly overlap the slices with each other until the rice and bean mixture is completely covered. Cover the squash and zucchini layer with about 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Make another layer with the remaining rice and bean mixture (pressing down firmly again) and place the remaining squash and zucchini slices. Cover that layer using about 1/2 of the remaining cheese, but now make an additional layer of the red onion slices and cover with the last of the cheese mixture. Cover the casserole dish and cook for 45 minutes. Brown the top layer of cheese under the broiler if desired.
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