I've been feeling a bit out of touch with the world, lately. It's very unlike me to not keep up with the news, but lately when Derek asks me to brief him on world happenings (as is our usual way of BOTH being up on the news), I have nothing to report! Clearly the world is not devoid of news... I've just been skimming past news articles without absorbing information lately.
Yesterday, I decided that it needs to change! After reading the Economist thoroughly through college, and the New York Times up until last year, I'm jumping back into the "I read the newspaper" world. I went back to the New York Times, and signed up yesterday! Woohoo! I plan to be much more informed from here on out — as I like it, and is probably the responsible thing for me to do. I'm still partially struggling with the time aspect: I know I could spend all day pouring through the nytimes website, reading article after blog after editorial, but there is this thing called LIFE. and WORK. I think that's the reason, perhaps, I cancelled my subscription last year to begin with. Here's to managing our time responsibly, right? Right!
This casserole made me feel really responsible, too. Weird segue? Roll with it. Maybe it's just the word "casserole" that throws me off — it seems like something from the 1960's that maybe has little to no flavor. Or definitely a can of cream of mushroom soup. I'm pretty much wholeheartedly against cream of ANYTHING soup, especially from a can. All this to say, I was really skeptical of thing casserole... was it even going to taste good??
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted AMAZING. No joke, I was blown away by the flavor here. With the caramelized onions and mushrooms, then the flavors from the stock, mixed with all these other goodies (gruyere and crushed red pepper!), it was impossible to stop eating. I even got Derek to eat it, more than once, and he REALLY doesn't like mushrooms (or so he claims). WIN. Next up: coconut. {ha! like that will every happen.}
Mushroom Kale Wild Rice Casserole
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 2 large sweet onions, sliced into thin rings
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 large bunches of Kale, leaves torn and stems removed
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 4 cups cooked wild rice
- 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and butter a large casserole dish (I used a 9x13 baking dish) and set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoon butter, then add the onions. Stir to coat the onions with butter. Continue to cook the onions while you do everything else in the recipe, turning down the heat if needed to keep the onions from burning and drying out. Stir every 5 minutes or so.
- In another large pot, the biggest you have, melt the remaining 2 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the mushrooms, spreading to cover the entire bottom of the pot, and do not stir for about 3 minutes. Stir to get a new layer of mushrooms on the bottom, and cook for another 3 minutes without stirring.
- Add the olive oil if the mushrooms have become dry, along with the garlic, oregano, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to combine, and cook for 30 seconds before adding the torn kale leaves.
- Cook the kale leaves with the mushrooms until the kale is fully wilted. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, stir to fully incorporate, and then add the milk and vegetable broth.
- Cook, while stirring, until the mixture thickens — about 3 minutes after boiling. Add the cream, stir to combine, and remove from heat.
- Stir the wild rice in with the mushroom mixture, along with 1 cup of the grated cheese. At this point your onions should be caramelized and golden — cook them until they are, and then add to the mushroom mixture.
- Pour the mixture into your prepared pan, and top with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted and the casserole is bubbling. Serve hot!
Eileen says
I could definitely get behind a big pile of vegetables and rice with comforting melted cheese right about now. And then: a lovely nap. Yay!
Gretchen says
This does sound yummy! Good for a cold winter night.
Rachelle says
How much is two bunches of kale?
Mary says
About 8 cups (not packed) of leaves.
Anna says
Hi,
This recipe sounds wonderful, BUT could mozzarella cheese be substituted for the Gruyere and could the heavy cream be omitted or a substitute used - like evaporated milk? Not a fan of these two ingredients.
Thanks.
Mary says
I think the cheese sub would be fine — very different, as they're totally different kinds of cheese, but fine. As for the milk ... I'm not sure!! You could use a less fatty milk, but I don't know about evaporated milk. Let me know how it goes!!
Hannah says
Just made this for dinner and it was amazing!! I cut the recipe in half since there's only me to feed, pretty much just guessed on the measuring, and substituted gruyere for some shredded italian cheese blend I already had in the fridge and it still turned out wonderful!! Grab some crusty bread to go with this and you can't go wrong.
Mary says
Yay! So glad you liked it, Hannah! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Wendy says
I made this for dinner last night and it turned perfect! Love the flavors. I have enough for a few other meals so can't be that too!
Mary says
Yay! So glad you liked it, Wendy! Thanks for the comment!
Kaylee says
Do I HAVE to use flour? I want to make this but it needs to be gluten free.
Mary says
Hi Kaylee! You certainly don't HAVE to, but it will be a soupy mess if you don't. I've had success using Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free AP Flour when making a roux for a thickening agent — but I don't have enough experience to say if the method in this recipe would work for it. It might! If you had to, you could make a traditional roux (with the GF flour) and add in the veggies after you've successfully made the roux. Let me know if you end up making it, and how it goes!
Sue says
Can I make this a day ahead and reheat it for my guests?
Mary says
I can't say I've tried this, Sue, but I think if you perhaps assembled it — DIDN'T bake it — then stuck it in the fridge and did the baking before your guests got there, it would be fine! Let me know how it goes!
Rebecca Watson says
I made with this with a GF flour mix and it was great. No problems at all 🙂 I also used rice milk and oatmeal cream, with some rice cheese. Vegan and gf and STILL delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Using it in my Thanksgiving as the main for our vegan friends.
Mary says
Awesome! Thanks for the tips, Rebecca! Xo (happy thanksgiving!)
Sarah says
This is in the oven now, and we can't wait! I'm baking a dish of garlic-lemon chicken along side of it for the meat-loving family members. I anticipate leftovers, if there are any, will be amazing. Thanks for the recipe.
Mary says
Yay! I hope you loved it, Sarah! Thanks for the comment!
Corryn Bradley says
I LOVED this recipe! It was perfect for a random snowy day in April. Instead of cream and milk, I substituted with butternut squash soup and used almond milk and a gluten free flour and it ended up being super creamy and the butternut squash complemented it nicely!
Mary says
That sounds AMAZING! Thanks for sharing, Corryn!
Emily says
I made this tonight! So good! I made a few substitutions to cut some of the calories. I used good olive oil instead of butter, skim milk, Greek yogurt instead of cream, and fat free chicken broth instead of vegetable (just because it's what I had in the pantry). I also put it in mini loaf pans (I live by myself so single servings are better than a big casserole dish). Since I did the single servings, I cut the cooking time down. It made 8 mini loaf pans and I plan on keeping most of them in the freezer (and taking some to my parents). I'll definitely be making this again!! Thanks for sharing!!
Mary says
Thanks for the details, Emily!! Sounds like such a great way to make this! Xo
michelle says
Pinning this one, delicious!
Tarra Davis says
I've been trying to institute Meatless Mondays at the homestead and my cousin found this recipe for me, since I didn't want to make eggplant lasagna AGAIN (it's delicious, but I've seen it too much).
Hubby and I enjoyed this dish and I paired it with good crusty bread...the teen did her best to make her way through it, but she doesn't like mushrooms, so she didn't enjoy it 🙁
I'm thinking the two healthy bunches of kale I used may have been too much kale. If I make it again, I'll use maybe one bunch and I'll chop it into smaller pieces instead of tearing it. I think I'd like more salt, pepper and red pepper flakes as well. The sauce was tasty. I feel like I want to sprinkle walnuts or pine nuts - something crunchy on it to add some texture?
Anyhow - thanks for the recipe. I'll definitely try it again with some revisions/additions.
Gayle Mossop says
I want to take this to Church for Fellowship. Do I make it, refrigerate it and warm it the next day? Or do I make up to getting it into the 9X3 pan, then refrigerate and bake at Church?
Mary says
Hi Gayle! I would bake, refrigerate, and then re-heat. Enjoy! xo
Becky Huertas says
I prepared this glorious casserole and delivered it to a family on our street: new immigrants coping with a new language, infant twins, and Stay at Home orders. They called an hour later, and said it was the best food they had eaten since arriving in the US 9 months before!! They also said they would sleep well for the first time in several days with full tummies!!
★★★★★
Mary says
Oh this warms my heart, Becky!! Thanks for sharing (and being such a kind neighbor!). xo