Many of us are down to the dregs of our fridges and pantries right now, I haven’t been to the store for a couple of weeks and the cupboard (not to mention any semblance of creativity in the kitchen) is pretty bare. A yen for pizza had hit but not too much in the way of pizza makings were in sight. Does this sound like your house right now? We are all making do with what we have on hand.

This recipe is vegetarian and gluten free.

I found a couple of large tomatoes and a handful of cherry tomatoes (just about to go bad), some stale flour tortillas, rice, and cheese…pizza rice casserole was born. My pantry did have an onion and some garlic plus oregano in the spice drawer.

Stewed Tomatoes

Tortillas

Layer

Grated Cheese

Make the rice, white or brown, whatever you have on hand. I made about 3 cups finished.

Saute an onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for about 5-7 minutes until soft, add the garlic, some red pepper flakes, and a rounded teaspoon of dried oregano. Continue to cook until everything mingles into a soft tomatoey mess.

Heat your broiler and put a rack near the top.

Heat a good glug of olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet on medium heat. Layer the tortillas in the bottom of the pan, tearing them to cover the entire surface. Cook long enough that they start to puff and brown on the bottom. Spread the rice on top, then the tomato mixture, cover with grated cheese.

Put under the broiler to melt the cheese and heat the tomato/rice layers.

Cut into rough wedges to serve with a salad on the side (there was some lettuce in the garden to harvest).

Pizza Rice

Pizza rice is born.