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

Potato Gnocchi

I'm deep in the middle of a bunch of projects right now. Time really doesn't feel like it belongs to me. When I get super busy, I tend to just pile more and more things on my plate. I decided this last weekend that regardless of the looming deadlines, I was going to have some kitchen and friend time, dammit. So, over came Myles to help me out with some deliberate non-working.

Did you know that Gnocchi can be made with just two ingredients? TWO! Seriously, it's potatoes and flour and it's soooo delicious. I started making it a few years ago. My first foray into gnocchi was a bit of a disaster. I made Sweet Potato Gnocchi for Thanksgiving one year. I didn't think to roll the dough into little ropes and cut it, so I was just pulling big chunks off the ball of dough. Everything was uneven and way too big, mostly because as I was getting impatient and making the balls bigger and bigger as I went along. When we ate them, they were horribly dense and chewy.

I loved the idea, though, and have made gnocchi many times since then, with much better technique, though my pieces never come out quite even.

Making gnocchi is easy. You combine cooked potato with flour, then boil it in salty water, put a little butter in a pan and then saute it until the outside is a little crisp. You get a little bite on the outside, and inside is a dreamy, gooey potato dumpling. Served with a flavorful sauce, it's quite the impressive dish. It's especially wonderful eaten with a good friend for a weekend lunch, accompanied by a refreshing cocktail and followed by a trip to the pool.

Potato Gnocchi

I highly recommend using yukon gold potatoes if you can, or another smaller thin skinned potato. It will give you the best results.

1lb Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled
1 Cup Flour, sifted

Peel your potatoes, then dice them. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil, then cook the potatoes in it for about 20 minutes until they are completely tender. Drain the potatoes really well.

In you have a ricer, use this to rice the potatoes, if not, press the potatoes through the holes in a metal colander into a large mixing bowl. You want a nice fluffy mound. Sift the flour over the potatoes, then mix to form a ball of dough. It might be a tiny bit sticky. If you didn't get enough water out of your potatoes when you drained them, I recommend adding just a smidge more flour, but go easy else the gnocchi will come out heavy.

Bring another pan of really salty water to the boil. On a clean surface, roll out some of the gnocchi dough into a rope. It should be about 3/4 of an inch wide. With a sharp knife, slice of dough at one inch intervals. Roll across the tines of a fork and make a ridgey dent (very technical term, I know) in the dumplings, as shown here:

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling salty water for a minute or two. They are done when the float to the surface. Pull them out and drain them as soon as they start to float, they will have swelled up.

In a shallow saute pan, melt a tablespoon or two of butter and add the gnocchi. Saute until they get some color on them, this will make the outside a little crispy.

Serve with a great sauce, like a beurre blanc or a white cheese sauce. Maybe a side of asparagus and some bruschetta too. Devour shamelessly.

Makes about 4 servings.

Meatballs with Homemade Barbecue Sauce

I talk a lot about comfort food here on Salted Spoon. I firmly believe in the power of mashed potatoes, peas and gravy. I know that if I ever have a ridiculously horrible day, a bowl of comfort food and a good cry will do more for me than pretty much anything else. I think it's interesting that many of us have completely different comfort foods. 

Back in February at a Superbowl party I ate meatballs made by my boss, Jenn. They were insanely incredible and I'm still thinking about them three months later. The sauce was delicious. It had a rich almost sweet flavor, and the meatballs themselves were perfect nuggets of joy. They could very potentially be in my comfort food rotation, except I have no idea how she made them. It's a family recipe, so unless I abandon my Stunt Guy and do some very elaborate stalking and scheming to marry some random cousin, you can bet your bottom dollar I'm never going to know what made those meatballs so great. This is probably a good thing, because if I did know how to make them I would probably eat them so often that I'd either a) get sick of them or b) have to start wearing maternity jeans. 

Since I'm still pantry busting, I was thinking this week about what I wanted to cook out of my pantry for dinner yesterday and I decide it was time to share my meatball recipe. I was convinced I had ground beef in the freezer, but evidently my memory is off because I couldn't for the life of me find it. It was the only ingredient I was missing though, so I did pick some up at the store, continuing my "buy no more than 1 in 5 ingredients" rule. 

I started making my own barbecue sauce a few months ago and I've been meaning to share it. Since it's  the perfect sauce for meatballs, I think now is a good time. The meatballs go wonderfully with a standard marinara sauce. The barbecue sauce goes great on chicken or ribs. Or, just be like me and put them together with a side of rice and broccoli, or maybe some mashed potatoes and whole corn.

Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite comfort food is. I'll give it a try.

Meatballs with Homemade Barbecue Sauce

These meatballs aren't dense at all. They come out wonderfully light. Once you've done all the cooking here, you let the meatballs simmer for an hour and a half in a crockpot. This creates the moist yumminess and it's worth the time. I used Parmesan Cheddar Bread for the breadcrumbs and it was delicious!

For the Meatballs

1lb Ground Beef (or use half beef, half turkey as suggested by my friend Adam)

2 Cups of Fresh Breadcrumbs

1 Cup Grated Parmesan

1/2 Cup Milk

2 Eggs

2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley

1 Teaspoon Dried Sage

1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano

1/2 Teaspoon Dried Thyme

1/2 Teaspoon Dried Rosemary

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

For the Barbecue Sauce

1 Small Onion, diced

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Red Wine

2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

2 Cups Ketchup

4 Tablespoons Molasses

1 Teaspoon Chili Powder

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

Start with the sauce. In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and add in the onions. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions are starting to brown. Mince the garlic and add in with the onions. Cook for another two minutes, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and taste. If it's too acidic for you, add a tablespoon of sugar. Let this simmer away while you make the meatballs, or if you are just making the sauce, about 20 minutes.

For the meatballs, mix the herbs in with the parmesan and breadcrumbs. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs into the milk. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the breadcrumbs, add the ground beef and salt and pepper. 

Mix until combined, but try not to overmix.

With a meatballer or a spoon, roll into small balls. You should get about 35.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and brown the meatballs on all sides. It should take about two or three minutes a side. 

Put the meatballs in a crockpot and pour over the sauce, then let simmer for an hour and a half. You could also do this on the stove in a pan over low heat, just be sure to keep a lid on it and stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks. 

Makes 35 meatballs and three cups of sauce. 

Other recipes you might like:

Salted Vanilla French Buttercream