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

Parsley and Panko Crusted Salmon and Missing My Heart Sister

My friend Heather is my oldest friend. She and I have been friends for about twelve years. I call her my Heart Sister. She and her gorgeous baby girl Winry live 2,000 miles away in Georgia. Heather and I have a really great friendship. We can go months without seeing each other and nothing changes. It's quite lovely. Heather is busy working on growing Winry's brother right now and I'm thinking of her all the time. Subsequently, that means I am craving this dish all the time.

Heather made me a version of this several years ago and I make it often, especially when I'm homesick. This version is not quite the same as hers since I lost the recipe many moons ago, but I really adore it.

Marshall came over this week for some comfort food. With Stunt Guy gone, it continues to be nice to have someone to cook for. This is prime comfort food for me, especially with mashed potatoes and peas  and a nice glass of white wine.

It's really not just because it's delicious, it's because it's something Heather made me and it makes me think of home and family. The fish is super tender and melts in your mouth, and the flavor and the texture on the topping is really fantastic.

Parsley and Panko Crusted Salmon

I use salmon the most for this, though you could use tilapia or another lighter fish, just make sure you reduce the cooking time is the fillet is thin.

The Fish
1 lb Salmon Fillet
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

The Topping
2 Tablespoons Panko Breadcrumbs
2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley (minced)
1 1/2 Tablespoons Walnuts (chopped)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

If you have time, lay out the fillet and pour over a tablespoon of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and sit aside for a couple of hours. If you don't have time for this step, not to worry, it'll still be yummy.

When getting ready to cook the fish, preheat the over to 350F.

Set the fish on a non-stick baking sheet (Silpat is awesome here). Mix all of the topping ingredients together and spread over the fillet. Try to get the whole thing covered and keep the topping off the pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of your fillet. You want to be careful not to overcook it or the salmon will dry out. Serve immediately with mashed potatoes and peas, or maybe with rice and zucchini.

Makes 2 servings.

See more Marshall meals here:
Eggplant Parmesan
Asian Simmered Beef

Eggplant Parmesan, Inspiration, and Wine Openers

One of my favorite things to do whenever I have a spare minute is to dive in to my Google Reader and check out a few new posts by some of my favorite foodies. I subscribe to so many great blogs that I can almost never keep up with all the fabulous inspiration they provide. Right now I have 263 unread posts, and I have probably close to six hundred posts marked with recipes or photography that I love and am inspired by. 

I love to browse through all my cookbooks, but it's great to have a wealth of inspiration with me wherever I go. 

I've been cooking a lot for other people recently. It makes me happy. Cooking for other people is also a great source of inspiration for me. I'm still cooking for Marshall. He's still incredibly busy with both school and a full time job. My friend Leisha is in the middle of moving. Here's a recommendation. Most of the time when people move, they have help moving. But after that, they are usually in the middle of boxes, finding lost items, getting utilities switched on, and frequently cooking gets left behind. Plus, who the heck can find their tupperware right after they move?

Sidenote: My saddest lost item moving story. 

My Stunt Guy and I spent three days driving cross country to get to Las Vegas. We were in a Uhaul that was towing a car, that had two very very angry cats in it. When we got to Las Vegas, I had to go straight away to work. My Guy unloaded the whole truck by himself. We went by the store that night when I got home and we bought some necessities and some beer and wine. It was one in the morning and I wanted a glass of wine so badly. I just needed a minute to settle. We found the wine glasses so easily but there was no sign of our wine opener. We searched through a dozen boxes to no avail. Exhausted and frustrated, I went to sleep without my wine. 

The next day I went to work, came home, we searched again for the wine opener. Nothing. I went to sleep again sorely disappointed. 

The next day I decided not to take a chance and on the way home from work I stopped at the store and bought a wine opener. I strode into the house triumphant, implement in hand. I pulled out one of the bottles of wine that had been untouched for two days. I grabbed my wine glass. I went to open the bottle. 

It was a screw top. %$*^#%*^*^#

End of Sidenote

If someone moves, make them dinner, or give them a bottle of screw top wine and make sure they know how to open it. 

I made Marshall and Leisha Eggplant Parmesan this week. I made a heather person because Marshall is a dancer and Leisha is an acrobat and I didn't want to weight either of them down. 

This recipe was inspired by the brilliant Adam Roberts of The Amateur Gourmet. Adam wrote a book that has been sitting on my wishlist for a while, called The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table Hop Like a Pro (Almost). If you've read it, let me know how it is!

Eggplant Parmesan

I've got a recipe coming soon for chunky tomato sauce, but in the meantime either use your own basic chunky tomato sauce recipe, or a good store bought one. 

For the parmesan, I recommend grating your own from fresh. If you are in a hurry though, you can pick up some pre-grated from the store. Be sure to get the kind that needs to be refrigerated though, not the kind that sits on a shelf forever. 

2 Large Eggplants

3 Cups Tomato based Pasta Sauce

1 Cup Grated Parmesan

6oz Ricotta Cheese (Part Skim is fine)

1 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs

Olive Oil

Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper

Preheat the oven to 450F. Slice up the Eggplant into six slices each and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes. They should get nice and brown on top. Take them out and then turn the oven down to 350F.

In an 8x8 deep oven pan, put down a layer of Eggplant. Cover this with half the tomato sauce, then half the ricotta in chunks placed over the eggplant slices. Cover this with a layer of the grated parmesan. Repeat the same steps again for another layer. Top the whole pan with the breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. The cheese will soften up, the breadcrumbs will be gorgeous and crunchy. The Eggplant will be cooked without being soggy. Serve it with some crusty bread and maybe a side salad.

Serves 4.

Asian Simmered Beef and an Excellent Trade

My friend Marshall is one of the busiest people I know. Not only is he an amazing talent at the Circus, but he is also in Massage Therapy school full time, meditates daily, and has impeccable taste. His apartment is one of those small, stylish, beautiful places that makes you want to give up everything you own and live there immediately.

Because Marshall is so busy, he doesn't have much time on his hands to cook. This is where I occasionally come in. Last week, Marshall found time on his day off school to give me a much needed and incredibly wonderful massage. Massages are not in my budget. i think I'm about two years away from them even coming close to justifying them. Since I have shoulder problems, one hereditary, one from being hit by a car, massages are blissfully wonderful for me.

I think sometimes that I forget to stop. I keep myself quite busy and I have trouble being still. When I'm at home, I'm almost always doing something. If I give myself down time, I usually make it about 15 minutes before I decide I'm not doing all the things I need to be. This is what is nice about doing something that forces you to be still, that you aren't in your house for, and that gives you the chance to take a break.

So, Marshall found the time to give me a glorious massage and, in return, I made him dinner. Boy was that massage good. Marshall is kind of a rockstar so I really needed to bring it when it came to dinner. It was a great opportunity for me to tweak this recipe for Asian Simmered Beef that I made up on the fly when my Stunt Guy was in town and personally fund quite delicious. This is apparently quite similar to Korean Bulgogi, which I've never actually eaten. With my guy out of town, it's really nice to have someone else to cook for. I'm the kind of person that loves to cook for others and make them happy through food. I'm hoping I can persuade Marshall that we should do this trade again. Soon. How about this Sunday?

Asian Simmered Beef

One of the most important things about this recipe is the cut of beef. I found a great deal on some very thin Chuck Steak. It was pretty perfect. You do want to go with steak here as the beef needs to be nice and tender. The other important thing is giving it time to marinade. You want to leave it at least 30 minutes, more if you can.

1lb Beef Seak, cut into thin strips
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Tablespoon Minced Ginger
1 Tablespoon Miso Paste
A few drops Toasted Sesame Oil (optional)
Several good grinds of black pepper

This really couldn't be a whole lot simpler. Cut your steak into thin strips, trimming out any fat or gristle that you find. In a bowl or container with a lid, mix all the other ingredients together. Use a whisk to make sure everything is really well blended, especially the miso paste. Taste the marinade and if it's too salty, add a little more honey. Tip in the beef and use your hands to squish the beef in the marinade, almost massaging it for a minute or so. Then, let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour... longer is better. I usually try and let it sit for two to three hours.

When you are close to dinnertime, pour the beef and the remaining marinade into a non stick pan and place over medium heat. Let simmer for ten minutes and then check to see if the beef is as you would like it.

Serve with a stir-fry and rice, or put in a spinach salad, or make it into a wrap. I like it best over brown rice with peppers and carrots, topped with toasted sesame seeds.

Makes two large servings.

This also goes really well with Sesame Green Beans