Ground Beef Summer Squash Casserole

I closed on a beautiful home in Davis Island this week. The buyers — a young couple, first-timers — looked at the keys the way I looked at my real estate license in 2012: like they were holding the future in their hands.

Mama called at noon to tell me Aunt Sophia has heartburn again. She reported this with the urgency of a woman who considers every piece of information critical and every phone call an opportunity to also critique my cooking from forty miles away.

Some weeks are ordinary. This was an ordinary week. I sold houses. I cooked dinner. I called Mama. I drove to Tarpon Springs on Sunday. The extraordinary thing about ordinary weeks is that they are the ones you miss most when they are gone.

I made stuffed peppers — bell peppers filled with rice, lamb, tomatoes, and pine nuts, baked until soft and fragrant. Autumn on a plate. I ate it on the back porch while the sun set and the air smelled like oregano and summer. A quiet evening. The food was good. Good is enough. Good is everything.

I visited the bakery this weekend. Mama was behind the counter, flour on her apron, her face set in the concentration of a woman who takes baking as seriously as other people take surgery. I stood next to her and rolled dough and said nothing because the silence between us is not empty — it is full of every recipe she taught me and every critique she gave me and every morning she woke at 4 AM to make phyllo that nobody else can make.

The stuffed peppers had already done their quiet work that evening on the back porch — fragrant and soft, Autumn on a plate just as I described — but it’s this ground beef and summer squash casserole that I reach for when the week has been full and I want something that practically makes itself while I call Mama back. It has the same spirit as those peppers: humble ingredients, a hot oven, and a kitchen that smells like dinner is being taken seriously. After a week of keys changing hands and flour-dusted silences and heartburn reports delivered with great urgency, a casserole that asks very little of you and gives a great deal back is exactly the right thing.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85% lean)
3 medium summer squash, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup shredded mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil and set aside.
Brown the beef. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking it apart, until browned and no longer pink, about 7 minutes. Drain excess fat.
Sauté aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add diced onion to the skillet and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring frequently.
Build the filling. Stir in drained diced tomatoes, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Add uncooked rice and beef broth. Stir to combine and remove from heat.
Layer the casserole. Spread half the sliced summer squash in an even layer across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Spoon the beef and rice mixture evenly over the squash. Arrange remaining squash slices on top.
Bake covered. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and squash is tender.
Add cheese and finish. Remove foil, sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over the top, and return to oven uncovered for 8–10 minutes until cheese is melted and lightly golden.
Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest 5 minutes before serving. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Nutrition (per serving)

Ground Beef Summer Squash Casserole — The Ordinary Week That Tasted Like Everything