Kale and Wild Rice Casserole

 

This recipe and this post came together through a couple of habits: a current one and an old one. The current habit has to do with flipping around on the internet looking at, bookmarking, and “pinning” recipes. I’m not sure if this is a good habit or a bad one, since it seems to take up a lot of time that might be better used cleaning the bathroom or something.

The other habit is the one I used to have when I had more time. I used to really tightly plan my meals for the week, build my grocery list according to the recipes I’d chosen (many of them discovered using habit #1), and then spending a good deal of time making delicious meals every day. Well, my life doesn’t really allow for this kind of behavior anymore, but I miss it.

 

And so, I dug a kale and wild rice casserole out of my internet bag of tricks and modified it to my personal taste. While I mostly made this in one cooking session, I also found ways that I could break this recipe up into a few steps that could be done ahead of time. There are some suggestions along those lines in the recipe text below.

The resulting dish is hearty and satisfying. There’s a lot of wild rice here, which I love, and its nutty chewiness goes well with the slightly bitter green kale. I liked the sharp cheddar cheese, but Gruyere or a milder Swiss cheese would be good, too. There’s just enough cheesiness and creaminess from the sauce in this dish to hold all the healthy ingredients together and give them additional rich and savory flavor. There’s a big herbal hit from the thyme in there. While I only had dried thyme on hand, fresh would be even better. Increase the amount of fresh thyme leaves to a tablespoon.

As far as habits go, I think getting back to good, solid meal plans is something worth nurturing again. A new role in my day job just made my life a bit more, let’s say, “interesting.” I’m going to need a good plan, and some make-ahead strategies like the ones in this recipe and the previous one I posted, if I’m going to avoid going hungry!

Kale and Wild Rice Casserole

Based on a recipe at Half Baked Harvest

I usually cook up a big batch of wild rice when I need it for something like this. Measure out what you need for the recipe and freeze the rest. You can cook your wild rice a couple days ahead. Cover and keep in the refrigerator until needed.

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

8-10 cups chopped kale

1 ½ teaspoon coarse salt, divided

¼ cup water, or as needed

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons butter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4 cups cooked wild rice

2 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a 2-3 quart casserole dish with cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic brown. Add as much of the kale as you can get in the pan and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until the kale is wilted enough to add the remaining kale (you may need to do this in a few batches.) Continue cooking the kale until it is completely wilted and tender, adding ¼ cup water or more as needed to keep the kale from getting too dry and burning in the pan.

3. Stir in the black pepper. Transfer the cooked kale to a bowl and set aside. (This can be done up to 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate if making ahead.)

4. In the same large skillet (cleaned) or in another one, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. (You can cook the onions at the same time as you are cooking the kale. You can also make the onions up to 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

5. To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour to make a very thick paste. Cook the paste about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk in the vegetable broth. Continue to whisk until all the flour lumps are removed.

6. Cook the sauce, stirring frequently, until it begins to boil. Boil gently, continuing to stir, for about 1 minute, or until the sauce thickens. Stir in the thyme and nutmeg. Remove from the heat. (I do not recommend making the sauce ahead of time.)

7. In a large bowl, combine the cooked wild rice, cooked kale, half of the cooked onions, and half of the cheese. Stir together and stir in the sauce.

8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Distribute the remaining onions over the top of the mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. (You could cover and refrigerate the entire casserole at this point and bake it the next day. Bring it as close to room temperature as you can before baking, and increase the baking time.)

9. Bake, uncovered, at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, or until bubbly and heated through. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. Cover and refrigerate leftovers and reheat to serve.

Makes 6-8 main dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Barley and Corn Casserole with Provolone, Quinoa and Spinach Casserole, Winter Squash and Rice Casserole

Brown and Wild Rice with Asparagus and Peas: Salad for an Early Spring

It’s hard to know which direction to go in my seasonal adventures when the seasons become as messed-up as my kitchen! Summer has recently fallen out of the sky, crushing the end of winter and taking over for spring. This unsettles me not a little. It’s as hot as July, but the typical May and June foods haven’t even been planted let alone harvested. One hardly even knows what to eat!

I was in denial about this uncomfortable phenomenon, but I’ve finally begun to adjust. I got out the grill, dared to plant some arugula and mesclun lettuce mix in pots, and compromised my local food principles (it’s not the first time, nor will it be the last) by buying some asparagus, which I usually wait for until May or June. Since the salad weather was upon me, whether I was ready or not, I used some of this asparagus in a brown and wild rice salad. I also tossed in some frozen peas, nice fresh parsley and green onions (aka scallions), and topped it all off with a simple lemon vinaigrette.

I love wild rice, and the brown basmati rice I used with it here is a good partner. The dressing is quite tart (you could adjust it to taste), but the starchiness of the brown rice, grassy, tea-like notes of the wild rice, and the sweetness of the peas and asparagus all hold up under it well. This whole salad also holds up well in the refrigerator for a couple days, and it’s nice to have its springtime, whole-food goodness waiting for me when the heat (yes, heat!…in March!...in Minnesota!) makes me want a lazy lunch or side dish for supper.

This kind of salad is wide open to many improvisations, and you can customize it based on whatever you have available. White beans, Parmesan or feta cheese, and toasted almonds would all be good to add, and you could experiment with other herbs. As the seasons progress (if they even remember how to do so properly), you could switch in other vegetables like green beans, sugar snap peas, radishes, zucchini, cucumbers…well, it seems like I’m getting in the right mindset after all. Maybe I am ready for an early spring, or summer, or whatever this is.

…and I’ll spare you my commentary on global climate change.


Brown and Wild Rice Salad with Asparagus and Peas

4 ounces asparagus spears
1 cup cooked and cooled brown rice
1 cup cooked and cooled wild rice
½ cup frozen peas, thawed (or fresh peas if you have them)
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
3 scallions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
a pinch or a few grinds black pepper
1 teaspoon honey

1. Break or cut the tough ends off the bottom of the asparagus spears. Cut the spears into 1-1 ½ inch pieces. Place the pieces in small microwave-safe bowl or baking dish. Add a splash of water to the dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Poke several holes in the plastic wrap. (This will allow steam to escape while cooking.)

2. Microwave on high power 2 minutes. Very carefully (the steam will come gushing out) remove the plastic wrap from the bowl and place the cooked asparagus in a colander or sieve. Run cold water over the asparagus to cool it. Drain well and place in a large bowl.

3. To the asparagus, add the brown rice, wild rice, peas, parsley, and scallions.

4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Whisk together until well blended and smooth. Alternatively, you could combine the dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake vigorously to blend.

5. Pour the dressing over the asparagus mixture and toss to coat and evenly distribute the ingredients. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Makes 4-6 servings. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.

Other recipes like this one: Barley and Wild Rice Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette, Three Grain Salad with White Beans and Artichokes, Spring Vegetable Tabbouleh

Two years ago: Dark Rye Bread

Minne-soda Bread

Bakers all over the blogosphere are making Irish Soda Bread in anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day. Soda bread, which is much like a giant biscuit, is a good choice for this holiday, since it has the word Irish in the title, but it also has a more universal appeal than some other dishes for this holiday. It’s pretty quick and easy, tastes good, is non-alcoholic, and doesn’t involve corning beef.

I remember really liking the soda bread I made ages ago from my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (which is now getting kind of old), but I don’t think I ever made it again, not even for St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe it was because I don’t really know that much about being Irish or the connections of soda bread to being Irish. Sure, I’ve read Frank McCourt, but I don’t think his memoirs touched the least bit on soda bread. Anyway, it was time for me to jump on the blogosphere bandwagon (blogowagon?) and get back to soda bread. I still don’t know much about being Irish, but I now know a little about being Minnesotan, so I made my soda bread with a little Minnesota spin. A Minne-soda bread, if you will.

And a quintessential Minnesota ingredient is wild rice, so I put some in my bread in the form of cooked wild rice grains and wild rice flour. It may be difficult to find wild rice flour, which is just ground wild rice, much the way wheat flour is ground wheat grains. It is also somewhat expensive, so if you don’t think the quest for it is worth your time and money, you can replace it with more whole wheat pastry flour. I was lucky enough to find my wild rice flour locally. (It came from this place, although, as I am writing this it seems to be out of stock.) If you like wild rice and are a little adventurous in the kitchen, I recommend trying to get some.

The flour adds the wonderful grainy, grassy, slightly tea-like taste of wild rice to the whole loaf. Since it is gluten free, however, it needs the wheat flours (I used both all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour here) to make a biscuit-like quick bread that holds together. It is still slightly dense and just a little crumbly, but that is the nature of whole grain baking, and I’ve come to love that nature. I think you could probably add wild rice flour to a gluten-free mix if you like the flavor and I’ve been thinking of adding it to the multigrain flour mix I like to use (from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce).

The cooked wild rice gives the soda bread even more flavor and a pleasant texture. When the loaf is fresh, the wild rice grains are lightly crispy, which was a nice surprise. As the loaf softens upon standing, the grains also soften to a chewier texture. The dried cranberries, which could have come from Minnesota, but more likely came from just over the river in Wisconsin, add their delicious, fruity sweet-tartness and chewiness. This soda bread is not sweet, since the only added sugar is that which went in to sweetening the dried cranberries. I loved it this way because the taste and aroma of the whole grains is wonderful, but I’m thinking a sweetened version might have to include some Minnesota maple syrup. I stirred some of that very syrup into some softened butter and spread it on my Minne-soda bread to test the theory, and it was quite fantastic.

Folks may think of Minnesota as a place where mostly people from Scandinavia and Finland settled, but if I understand it correctly, the Irish had the idea before they did. And of course, the Native Americans, had the idea first, as well as the idea to harvest the wonderful wild rice, or Mahnomin, so perhaps this recipe is a combination of ideas. No, it doesn’t make up for the errors of the past, but it does make up a mighty fine soda bread. A Minne-soda bread.


Soda Bread with Wild Rice and Cranberries
Based on an Irish Soda Bread recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 1989 edition.

You can use more whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour instead of the wild rice flour.

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup wild rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cooked wild rice
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries (Craisins)
1 egg
¾ cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper or by greasing it with oil or cooking spray.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat pastry flour, wild rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir together with a whisk to mix well. Stir in the wild rice and cranberries.

3. Lightly beat the egg in another bowl. Whisk in the buttermilk until well combined.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir together until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Gently knead the mixture in the bowl to form a rough ball and ensure all the dry ingredients are moistened.

5. Shape the dough into a slightly flattened ball, about 6 inches in diameter. Place the loaf on the prepared baking sheet. Cut a cross-shape into the top of the loaf about ¼- ½ inch deep. Bake at 375 F for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12-16 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Grandmama’s Buttermilk Biscuits, Cranberry Walnut Cornbread

Two years ago: Beef and Guinness Pot Pie

Grains and Vinaigrette

I’ve done this before, and I’ll probably do it again. I took a vinaigrette that I like on a green salad and poured it over some cooked and cooled whole grains and a few other compatible ingredients to make a different, heartier salad. This isn’t innovative or revolutionary. It is, however, convenient, especially if you happen to keep extra cooked whole grains in the freezer. It’s also nutritious, and, when you get the combinations right, delicious.

This time, I used up some of the Cranberry Vinaigrette I made recently over some cooked barley and wild rice. The Cranberry Vinaigrette recipe makes quite a bit, so this recipe was good for using some of it up. I also cooked up the last of a little bag of pearled barley that had been sitting in the cupboard since I don’t know when. Wild rice also sounded good here, and, as the flavors seemed to be taking on an autumnal theme, I added dried cranberries and pecans. For crunch, I threw in some celery, and for a salty, chewy contrast, I added some little cubes of provolone cheese. I really would have liked to have some green onions to go along, but I didn’t have any on hand. My herb garden is still alive on the patio, however, so I used fresh chives instead, and added some parsley as well.

See, improvising such a salad is really pretty simple, especially if you know of some ingredients, particularly seasonal ingredients, that have an affinity for each other. In this case, the sweet and tart cranberry dressing went well with the sweet, crunchy pecans, simple celery, and, of course, more cranberries. Just about any grains would have worked, but I probably would not have put in asparagus or tomatoes or peppers in the mix, because I just don’t think they would have worked flavor-wise or with the seasonal spin I was putting on this salad.

Well, whatever the theory behind this dish, it’s very good, and it’s a good jumping-off point for tasty combinations based on whatever you might have in your cupboard or refrigerator or freezer. While I ate it as part of a simple supper alongside some roasted root vegetables and winter squash I also think it would be a good accompaniment on a fall or winter feast table. Of course, you could start out thinking of making a salad something like this, but end up with something completely different…and at least as delicious.

Barley and Wild Rice Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette
You could make this salad vegan by leaving out the cheese, or add some beans to increase its protein content.

2 cups cooked barley
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 cup diced celery
½ cup dried cranberries, such as Craisins
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup cubed provolone cheese
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup chopped green onions or fresh chives
½ cup Cranberry Vinaigrette

1. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add the vinaigrette and stir until coated. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes 6-8 servings. Leftovers can be covered and kept refrigerated for at least a few days.

Other recipes like this one: Wheat Berry Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Maple Walnut Vinaigrette, Three Grain Salad with White Beans and Artichokes

One year ago: Pasta with White Beans and Pesto

Spring Cleaning

Now that it’s spring (or so my Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog calendar insists) I’m increasingly tempted to cheat. Not on my taxes or on my diet (such as it is) or even at Ticket to Ride or Small World. No, instead my eyes gaze longingly at the covers of current cooking magazines and wander through the produce section of the markets. There are new things there. Pretty green things. I want to cheat on the perfectly good locally-grown foods waiting for me at home, just because they’re a little out of season.

Root vegetables and frozen corn and squash have been sitting, uncomplaining and obedient in our freezer and root cellar. Okay, so it’s not really a root cellar, just the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, but many things have kept surprisingly well there all winter. (Except for beets. Beets don’t keep. They lurk.) Despite the temptations of the flirty new spring vegetables, I manage to stay strong. There’s a lot left to enjoy before I break down and buy some asparagus that’s been trucked, flown or shipped in from Mexico, Chile, the Emerald City, or wherever things are green this time of year.

Soup seems to be a good catch-all for whatever is left, no matter what the season. It also still offers some hearty comfort when the days aren’t quite as warm as they look, or spring rains (and melts) threaten to drown your spirit (or your basement). I recently made a good soup with celeriac (aka celery root) which was waiting faithfully to be utilized, and some of the wild rice I had frozen after cooking up a bunch to make this salad.

As I was making this soup, I had The Barefoot Contessa on the TV in the other room. Ina Garten just happened to be making a celeriac remoulade and was speaking of the affinity of the celeriac for mustard. Not one to turn up my nose at such a piece of culinary serendipity, I added some dry mustard to the soup. I was thrilled by the flavor of the final product (I thrill pretty easily, I guess), and I think the mustard made the soup go even better with the Dark Rye Bread I served alongside it.

This is a pretty simple soup. To make a thicker base, I pureed half of it using an immersion blender. (It splattered quite a bit, but that’s what the apron is for!) You could also use a regular blender. Just be careful when pureeing the hot soup. I find it works well to remove the little insert in the top of the blender lid and cover the resulting opening with a folded-up towel while blending. This seems to help keep explosions to a minimum. (The apron can only do so much.)

As I clean out my refrigerator, freezer and cupboards (there’s plenty of stocked-up dried beans and grains, too), I’ll try not to post much that really clashes with the spring season (pumpkin pie for Easter, anyone?) If you’re really eager for springtime fare, I’ve added a new link to the sidebar titled “Favorite Spring Recipes.” It will take you to another set of links to Messy Apron posts containing some of my favorite spring recipes. Happy Spring, whatever you’re eating!

Celeriac, Potato and Wild Rice Soup
Based on a recipe in Cooking Light magazine

I used a homemade vegetable broth for this soup, but you could use canned broth, or chicken broth if it is more convenient.

2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
½ teaspoon coarse (kosher) salt, plus more if desired
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
½ cup finely chopped carrot
1 medium celeriac (about ¾ pound untrimmed weight), finely chopped
¼ pound potatoes, peeled and finely chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons half and half
1 cup cooked wild rice

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and ½ teaspoon salt. Saute 3 minutes, or until onion is beginning to soften and turn translucent. Stir in the garlic, pepper and dry mustard. Cook about 1 minute more.

2. Stir in the carrot, celeriac and potatoes. Add the vegetable broth and white wine vinegar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

3. Remove the pot from the heat. Spoon about half of the soup into a bowl (if using an immersion blender) or into a blender container. If using an immersion blender, blend the soup remaining in the pot until well-pureed. If using a conventional blender, blend the removed portion of the soup until well-pureed.

4. Carefully pour the removed soup back into the pot. Stir in the half and half and the wild rice. Taste the soup for salt and add more if desired. Return the pot to the heat to warm through if needed.

Makes about 6 servings.

Three Grains are Better

I unearthed a recipe from a magazine for a salad with white beans, artichoke hearts and spelt, an Old World grain. The recipe looked great, but I was fresh out of spelt. Okay, so I’ve never owned a single kernel of it in my life. What I did have was a bag of cooked wheat berries in the freezer (leftover from when I made this salad.) But as long as I was putting a dent in what was in the freezer, I figured two grains might be better. I’d see what was in the cupboard as well. It turns out that the cupboard needs more attention than I thought, so if two grains were better, a three-grain salad must be on its way to greatness. I went with slightly exotic, but not unattainable: wheat berries, wild rice, and quinoa.

I’m probably not as scientific as I should be about cooking grains. I’ve got rice down pretty well, but, so I don’t have to memorize or look up ratios and recipes, I tend to just throw most other grains in a pot of water and boil them until they are tender. That’s how I cooked the wild rice and quinoa for this salad. It took about 20 minutes to cook the quinoa and about 40 minutes to cook the wild rice. The wheat berries, which I had cooked a while back, I first soaked for several hours (much like I would dried beans). This cuts the cooking time down from a couple hours to about 45 minutes. Cooking times of grains may vary depending on your source of raw materials. I usually cook much more than I need for a recipe and freeze the rest for quicker meals when things get busy.

I brought this salad to a potluck lunch at Harry’s workplace, and it received good reviews. I really like it too, and I think this might now be a regular resident in our refrigerator. The coats of the wheat berries pop as you chew them to reveal their starchy interiors, while the wild rice (which isn’t even a rice but a grass native to this part of the world) is chewy and earthy. The tiny quinoa grains fill in the gaps between the other grains, creamy beans and sort of leafy artichokes. The lemon vinaigrette is super-simple (just lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper) but cuts through the stodgy beans and grains to liven and brighten them up.

While these three grains seem to compliment each other well, you could probably use other grains such as brown rice, barley, or even corn. You could change up the type of beans, add different vegetables or tinker with the dressing. Before long, you’d have a completely different recipe. I better stop now before I give away all my secrets to recipe development and you won’t have a reason to read The Messy Apron any more!

Three Grain Salad with White Beans and Artichokes
Modified from Cooking Light Magazine

I used canned artichoke hearts. The brand I used listed only artichoke hearts, water, salt and citric acid (to prevent browning) in the ingredient list. You could use frozen artichokes, and I have included the approximate equivalent to the weight of the drained canned variety.

1 cup cooked wheat berries
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup cooked wild rice
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup finely chopped red onion
1 ½ cups (about 1 15-ounce can) white beans, such as navy, Great Northern or cannellini, drained and rinsed (I used some I had cooked myself and froze)
1 14-ounce can (or about 8 ounces frozen) artichoke hearts, drained (or thawed) and coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt (plus more to taste, if desired)
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large bowl combine the wheat berries, quinoa, wild rice, parsley, onion, beans and artichoke hearts.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and pepper. Whisk until well-combined. Pour over the wheat berry mixture and stir to mix the ingredients together and coat them well with the dressing. Taste the salad for salt and add more if desired. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes 6-8 servings.