Maybe Green Rice would be better for St. Patrick’s Day, but what the heck. This is a tasty way to use rice, eggs and cheese. The recipe calls for parsley, but you can bury green peas in it, finely chopped kale, or blanched and squeezed spinach. Or you can make a yellow version with corn. Or you can leave the vegetation out of it altogether.

I got this recipe from my friend Diane Ferris from Naples, N.Y., who winters in Maine. She made it for dinner one night and I fell in love with it. It is rich so I don’t make it very often, even though Jamie likes it very much. It is a substantial dish for the vegetarians in your life, as long as they eat dairy products.

When Diane makes it she often bakes it in a gratin dish, a fairly shallow baking dish, but I baked it in a souffle dish so it was deeper, and it took 10 minutes longer to bake. If you are hustling along with your dinner, bear in mind that you could probably knock 10 minutes off the baking time with a shallow dish.

Whenever I cook rice, I always make more than I need because leftover rice is so handy. I put it into pancakes, scramble eggs into it, do a vegetable stir-fry and dump rice into that. This recipe offers another way to use leftover rice. I sauteed the onion in the butter, but it is not necessary to do so.

Looking for

… a recipe for Three Cross Salad Dressing. Sheila Phillips in Medford wrote to say that she remembered seeing this delicious salad dressing made about 20 years ago and wants to try making it. She said: “It is made with vinegar, oil and milk. Simply, you make a sign of the cross with each, the first ingredient once, the second twice and the last three times.” The problem now is she can’t remember in what order to use the ingredients. Anyone know?

Green Rice

Makes 4 servings.

2 cups cooked rice, white or brown

1 small onion, diced

1/4 cup butter (half-stick)

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup parsley, minced

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Grease a baking dish or casserole very well. Combine all ingredients well and pour into baking dish. Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until the center is set and the top is golden brown.