rice | Adventures in Thyme

Wild Rice and Chicken Casserole

The holidays loom before us; many are already planning the meals that will be shared with friends and family. So today we’re offering a very customizable recipe that will benefit from holiday leftovers. Tonight we’re using store bought ingredients, but I’ll notate where you can use those yummy leftovers to your advantage and the relief of your refrigerator. Our best advice is as you stand in your kitchen channel your favorite Iron Chef and go for it!

Wild Rice & Chicken Casserole

Leg & Thigh meat from Roasted Chicken cut or pulled into small bite sized pieces (substitute: Turkey)
1 6 oz box Wild Rice mix, cooked (substitute: any rice with seasoning to taste)
1 10 oz package of broccoli florets (substitute: leftover crudité)
1 heaping teaspoon flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup almond milk (substitute: rice milk, milk, cream)
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 cup grated pecorino cheese (substitute: parmesan)
~3 pats of butter
optional: nuts (we used almonds but if you have walnuts that would work too)

We used a small convection oven set to 350 degrees and a casserole dish. Use some of your butter to coat the inside of the casserole dish. I use a sandwich sized zip baggie to hold a pat of butter and swirl around inside. Whatever is left of the pat will be added to your dish later – no waste!

While the oven is warming up, into a small saucepan add the remaining butter pats, stock, milk, rosemary, thyme and poultry seasoning, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and whisk in flour. Set aside.

In your casserole dish gently combine the chicken pieces, cooked rice and the broccoli, then pour the stock mixture over the top. Sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over the top and add some nuts. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 mins. Then remove the foil and bake an additional ~10 mins or until the top is browned.

Serve with a little extra cheese on the top. Enjoy!

Meatballs with tomato sauce

Yep, another meatball recipe – they’re just so darn good! And perfectly sized to take to work the next day for lunch. So let’s get to it:

Meatballs

1 lb Ground Sirloin
1 lb Ground Lamb
2 cups Cooked Long Grain Rice (I used brown basmati rice)
2 Eggs
2 sprigs Rosemary, chopped
2 sprigs Oregano, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Cheese
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1 14.5oz can peeled, chopped Tomatoes

Sauce

5 8oz cans Tomato Sauce
1 sprig Rosemary, chopped
1 sprig Oregano, chopped
1 tablespoon good Balsamic Vinegar
4 tablespoons Honey
2 teaspoons baking soda
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need two baking dishes (I used a 9” x 13” and a 9” x 9”)

Combine the ground meat, rice, eggs, chopped rosemary and oregano, grated cheese, canned tomatoes (with the juice) salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix together gently using your hands until the ingredients are well mixed.

Form the meat mixture into 2 to 2 ½ inch balls. You should end up with 12 to 14 meatballs. Place the meatballs into your baking dishes so they aren’t crammed together. Place in the oven and back for 30 minutes or until they start to brown on top.

While the meatballs are cooking, make your sauce. Combine the tomato sauce, chopped herbs, balsamic vinegar and honey in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the baking soda a teaspoon at a time. (This will neutralize the acid in the tomato sauce.) Stir in gently. Once it has stopped foaming, add the second teaspoon and mix it in. Once the sauce is hot, taste and add salt and pepper. Turn down to low and let simmer.

Once the meatballs have started to brown, spoon about half your sauce over the meatballs and return them to the oven. Cook another 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat is 160 degrees.

Serve with the remaining sauce and side dishes of your choice. (We served ours with rice and a vegetable.)

Enjoy!