Wild Rice & Mushroom Bake

Day 108

Wild Rice & Mushroom Bake is just a fancy name for a mushroom rice casserole, the kind that has rice and cream soup and whatever veggies people like to put in them, then topped with something crunchy. Our version tonight is very basic, in nature, containing just the soup and rice, and topped with buttered Ritz.

Wild Rice & Mushroom Bake

Cream of Mushroom Soup

When I make cream of mushroom, I don't follow an exact recipe, but I use the same ingredients, and follow the same process each time. The amounts vary a bit, because I don't really measure. Here's how I made tonight's soup:

Ingredients

1 lb white mushrooms
1/2 lb Cremini mushrooms
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Box of vegetable broth (900 ml|)
1 - 1 1/2 cups coffee cream
2 tbsp butter
1 - 2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp white wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Directions

Chop or slice (I did both) all the mushrooms and the onion and sauté in butter or healthy saute in vegetable broth. When liquid is mostly gone, remove 1/4 of the sautéed mixture to a bowl and add the garlic to the skillet and let simmer until fragrant but not brown, about a minute.

Chopping & sautéing mushrooms

Transfer the other 3/4 of the mushroom/onion/garlic mixture to the blender and add 1/2 box vegetable broth. Puree for a minute or so and add to a large saucepan.

Pureed mushroom/onion/garlic mixture

Meanwhile, take the 1/4 of the mushroom/onion mixture and add it back to the skillet along with 2 tbsp butter.Once the butter has melted, add the flour to make a roux and stir the mixture together. Cook about a minute and then add to the saucepan with the pureed mushroom mixture.

Making a roux

Add the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Bring to a low boil then turn down heat and add the white wine. Add a cup of the cream and then assess if it needs more. Taste, it, look at it, etc. The soup will go from a medium dun/grey color to a creamy taupe.

Before adding the cream (or roux)

We still have some soup leftover after adding it to the rice! This won't go to waste.

Leftover cream of mushroom

The Rice

We bought the rice at the Bulk Barn about right before making this. I looove the Bulk Barn. You can be all like, "What kind of rice would I like to have in my casserole?" And then just get the amounts you need and pay just for rice, and not for seasoning and packaging.

Ingredients

1 cup wild rice ($3.40)
3/4 cup long grain rice ($0.54)
About 5 cups water

Directions

I brought the water to a boil and added the wild rice first, since it takes longer to cook. Cooked the wild rice for 20 minutes and then added the long grain rice and cooked another 20 minutes. And by cooked, I mean simmered with the lid on. I did need to drain a bit of water off, so my guess-timate was a bit off.

Long grain & wild rice

Wild Rice & Mushroom Bake

To make the casserole, I added the soup to the rice, leaving it pretty soupy because it absorbs while baking.

Soup & rice mixture

Then, I buttered a 9 x 13" casserole dish and poured the soupy rice in.

Unbaked, untopped casserole & box of Ritz

Topped with crushed Ritz, then a drizzle of melted butter and into the 375 degrees F oven it went! I baked it for about 30 minutes until the top was browned.

Prep time for this meal is about 45 minutes to an hour. But that could be because I'm not efficient and I wash dishes as I go.

Wild Rice & Mushroom Bake

Reviews/Comments

Such good! Much tasty. I really loved it. I give it a 10. So glad there is enough for lunches and another supper!

One comment to note is that it wasn't salty enough. Good for people who really limit their salt intake, but I salted the food on my plate more. The soup tasted well-seasoned in the saucepan. But once it was added to all that rice the salt ratio must not have been enough.

Laura: Would have liked it better if it had had more mushrooms left whole rather than pureed. Really enjoyed the wild rice. Give it an 8.