My newest prize possession is a copy of Heidi Swanson‘s Super Natural Every Day (thanks, Random House!), which works as well as a coffee-table book as a cookbook. Between bouts of just browsing through the pretty pictures, I’ve tried a few recipes this weekend as well. The Chanterelle Tacos were so good I forgot to take pictures, despite my missing both the serrano chile (I used a bird’s eye) and the Mexican oregano she raves about. (Local note: I used an Ontario mushroom I can’t recall the name of instead of chanterelles). The Harissa Ravioli was also delicious, and pretty quick to prepare once you actually have harissa in the house (I’ve had a jar hanging around for ages, which made this a good go-to recipe, though on another note, what’s the best premade ravioli in Toronto?). But – and maybe it’s my post-race hunger speaking – what I keep craving is the Wild Rice Casserole with mushrooms.
It’s kind of a joke in my house (a true one) that I’ll gravitate toward any menu item or recipe with mushrooms in it. So it wasn’t a surprise I picked this one. Here they are, step one in the recipe (after preparing cooked rice):
You mix up the rice (either all wild or a mixture of brown and wild, which is what I did) with the fried mushroom/onion/garlic mixture and some eggs, sour cream and cottage cheese. Naturally, I substituted both yogurt (Pinehedge Farms) and sheep ricotta (Ewenity) to satisfy my need for yuppie dairy products. The flavour was definitely good, but I think the ricotta was drier than the recipe had intended, so next time I might add another egg or some extra yogurt.
It’s topped with fresh thyme – don’t leave it out. The flavour is worth the fiddliness.
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