Wild Rice, Mushroom and Kale Casserole

 

Food that I make for my friend Marshall has often graced the pages of this blog. Marshall is someone that I work with at the Circus, and he's also someone I'm happy to call a friend. He is a brilliant dancer, in fact, if you watch So You Think You Can Dance, he's actually one of the people in the title sequences. He is also an accomplished acrobat, has a kick ass static trapeze routine, and to him it appears that a back flip is as effortless as breathing.

In a few weeks, Marshall is leaving town. He's going off to new adventures. I'm really going to miss him. Not just because of the massages and the Marshall Meals, but because he's a good friend and someone I've loved working with this last year. I'm happy for him that he gets to go do even more cool stuff, but sad for me.

So it was time for another round of massages and meals, and this may very well be the last round, though I might try and make him dinner one last time before he skedaddles off into the wild blue yonder.

I'm still working on pantry busting, and I decided that it was time to use up the last of the Wild Rice medley that I picked up back when I made my Lentil and Rice salad. I've recently been playing around with Kale. I absolutely adored the Kale and Avocado dip that I made last week. So I packed this casserole full of Kale. I added mushrooms to give it a nice meaty component, and then a low(ish) fat cheese sauce to bind it all together and give it a little bit of creaminess.

This makes a nice big pan that is a great side dish. I served this to Marshall with some sauteed Kale on the side, and a Pesto and Slow Roasted Tomato stuffed chicken breast.

Wild Rice, Mushroom and Kale Casserole

For the Casserole

1 1/2 Cups Uncooked Rice Blend (include Wild Rice)

2 Cups Kale

8oz Mushrooms, sliced

1/4 Cup Walnuts

2 Tablespoons Butter for sauteing

For the Topping

1/4 Cup Asiago Cheese

1/4 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs

For the Sauce

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour

2 Cups Non-Fat Milk

1 Cup Cheddar Cheese, grated

1/2 Teaspoon Salt 

Everyone has a favorite method for cooking rice and here is mine. For this rice, you want it a little al dente, as it will cook more in the oven with the sauce. So, rinse your rice and get yourself a saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Cover the rice with water so there is about half an inch of water above the rice. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and lay a clean dish towel over the pan, then put the lid on, then tie the dish towel over the lid so that you aren't trailing dishtowel and risking fire and death. Turn the heat down very low, let cook for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and let sit for another 15 minutes. Do not remove the lid at all during this time. After your time is up, take the lid off and you should have nice al dente rice. If you are using white rice, make the times 10 and 10. 

Slice the mushrooms and saute in a large skillet until browned, set aside. 

Chop the Kale, being sure to remove the center rib, and place in the pan you just took the mushrooms out of. Add a cup of water and cook until the water has evaporated all the way.

Now preheat the oven to 350F and make your sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour to make a paste. Add the milk little by little, stirring all the while until all of the milk is adding. If you have lumps, run the sauce through a sieve to get them out. Then, simmer until it starts to thicken a little. Take off the heat and add the salt and cheddar. Mix well to combine. 

To assemble the casserole, mix the mushrooms, kale, sauce, rice and walnuts in a large bowl. Pour out into an 8x8 Casserole dish (I love this one). Mix the panko breadcrumbs with the asiago cheese and sprinkle over the top. If you don't have asiago on hand, you can use parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes until the top is crispy and the casserole is bubbly. 

Serve to your friend in the green room between shows with some chicken and a side vegetable and tell him how much you will miss him. 

Makes 8 servings.

Want more Marshall Meals? Here they are:

Healthy Eggplant Parmesan
Asian Simmered Beef
Parsley and Panko Crusted Salmon

Lentil and Rice Salad and Letting the Dust Settle

The dust has finally started to settle after a really busy two weeks. My family is all back in England, my Stunt Guy is back in Georgia. My apartment is starting to get back into a more habitable state after looking for a few days like all hope was lost and it should be condemned.

I'm back to eating Single Girl's Lunch Salads daily, and the best part is that I'm finally managing to get back into the kitchen.

I'm starting to think that I might have a slight cooking magazine problem. See, I'm lucky. I often find really good deals on cooking magazine subscriptions, so I tend to get a lot of them in the mail. My problem is that I don't read them at the rate that they arrive. I read maybe one for every five that come in. This wouldn't be too big a problem, except that I keep finding stacks of unread ones all over my apartment.

Here is most of my unread pile.



I've started to get pretty good at marking recipes, then clipping them for later, though I don't think that the shoebox I am storing those clippings in is necessarily the best organizational tool. It is also getting a bit full.

But, the good thing is that I now have lots and lots of inspiration when I need it. I just dip into the shoebox, leaf through some clippings, get an idea and I'm good to go.

I also mark things in recipe books. I always have a little package of sticky tabs with me when I'm reading a cookbook. You can tell how much I like a book by how many tabs are sticking out of it.

I came home from running errands today and had what I thought was a pretty clear vision of something I wanted to make, but I thought maybe I should thumb through a book just in case. I pulled a random book from the shelf and started thumbing through the pre-marked tabs. I used to be vegetarian, and the one I grabbed happened to be a vegetarian cookbook. Inspiration, as usual, came before I'd gotten to the 10th tab. I found a lentil and rice salad. I liked the idea of that, but I decided to just use those two ingredients as my base and then make the rest up from what I had in the pantry and fridge. Luckily, it turned out pretty awesome, and I'm delighted to share the fruits of my labors with you.

I really do believe sometimes that the best food is borne out of raiding what you already have in the house. Sometimes it allows you to think up combinations that you normally wouldn't consider. This is a prime example.

Vegan Lentil and Rice Salad with Lime and Tahini Dressing
Inspired by Vegetarian and Vegetable Cooking by Christine Ingram

When you're thinking about rice for this salad, I would really recommend trying to include a mix that has wild rice in it. I have a rice medley that I pick up from Fresh and Easy and it's brown, white and wild rice mixed together. That extra chewy earthiness that wild rice has goes really well here. But, if you don't have it, use whatever you feel like.

Salad
2 Small Carrots, peeled and grated
1 Cup Cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 Cup Uncooked Rice
1/2 Cup Uncooked Green Lentils

Dressing
1 Teaspoon Tahini
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, minced
1 Tablespoon White Wine Vinegar
Juice of 1 Lime
Salt and Pepper to taste.... be generous with the Pepper!


Soak your lentils for thirty minutes in unsalted water, then boil them for 15-20 minutes until they are just tender. You want them cooked, but not mushy. Cook the rice, drain and set aside.
Grate your carrots and shred your cabbage. Then, mix your dressing together. Make sure to stir the every loving heck out of the tahini before you add it in. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning as you like. I added a smidge more vinegar than listed here, but I crave acid in everything. If you wanted, you could also substitute rice wine vinegar. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Serve with a little extra parsley on top.

You can eat this by itself pretty easily. It would go really well also as an accompaniment to fish, probably salmon or tilapia marinated in lemon juice.

Makes 4-6 Servings.

Want something sweet? Try these Chocolate Coconut Macaroons