Layered Rice Pesto and Pepper Bake

I found this recipe in one of the Costco cookbooks I got for free during Thanksgiving weekend. This is an extremely delicious way to serve rice. We didn’t have any goat cheese on hand, so we used Chive ‘n Onion cream cheese instead. It worked great. We served it as a side dish with Costco meatballs.

3 cups cooked rice
1 ¾ cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt and ground pepper
½ cup prepared basil pesto sauce, divided
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese, divided OR 4 ounces Chive ‘n Onion cream cheese
10 ounces roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry and chopped, divided

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat a 7-inch soufflé dish or springform pan with nonstick vegetable spray.

Combine rice, 1 ½ cups Parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl.

Place half of the rice mixture in the prepared dish; pat down well. Spread half of pesto evenly over rice and sprinkle with half of goat cheese (or place small bits of cream cheese over layer). Layer half of red peppers over goat cheese. Repeat above layers. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup Parmesan over top.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until heated through (if using cold rice, you may need to bake this a bit longer). Cut into wedges to serve. Makes 6 servings.