Joybee, What's for Dinner? : Hotdish

Friday, March 27, 2015

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

A delicious and simple hotdish of chicken and wild rice flavored with cream of mushroom soup.

Chase off the last of winter's chill with a hotdish. This is a recipe my husband remembers his Mom making when he was younger. We didn't have her recipe so we put this together as best as we could with his memories and my cooking experience (with some googling).

Chase off the last of winter's chill with hotdish. [Tweet this]

For this hotdish, I used all wild rice. Some people use a wild rice mix with white or brown rice, but I wanted all wild rice. I still had plenty of wild rice from my husband's last trip to Minnesota so that's what I used. My husband found a family sized package of boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale so that's also what we used. You could easily use chicken breast or a whole split chicken with or without skin and/or bones. To add a little color but still keep this recipe simple I added some frozen broccoli. Then, of course, to make this a hotdish it needed cream of mushroom soup.

I see why hotdishes are so popular. Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. This hotdish was exactly that. It also made a big 9x13 pan full so it's plenty to feed a large family or just 2 people all week.

Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. [Tweet this]

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

Ingredients:

2 cups dry wild rice, cooked
1 shallot, minced (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10.5 oz cans full of milk
1 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli
12 chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook the wild rice in water or chicken broth until it's tender (I did this the night before).

Saute the shallot and garlic in a little butter or oil until tender and fragrant (if using). Or you could also just use some garlic powder and onion powder.

In a large bowl mix the wild rice, shallot, garlic, soup, and milk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Season the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper and lightly sear on both sides in a frying pan or griddle. (This step may not be necessary but I didn't want to risk the chicken not cooking properly. The whole hotdish bakes for an hour and gets very hot and bubbly so this may be an unnecessary step...use your judgment)

Pour the rice mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and smooth out. Top with the broccoli and lastly the chicken.

Bake at 350F for about 1 hour until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the soup mixture is bubbly and thickened.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with side of your choice I served it with Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots (I'll post this recipe soon).

Enjoy.

For more hotdishes and casseroles check out:

Tater Tot Hotdish ---------------------

Unstuffed Pepper Casserole ------------------

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

Spinach Pasta Bake ------------------

For more wild rice recipes check out:

Wild Rice Cherry Pecan Salad

Spiced Eggplant and Mushrooms

Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

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Tater Tot Hotdish

Yum

Ground beef and veggies in a creamy sauce topped with tater tots.

For those of you not from Minnesota (or like me and married to a Minnesotan), a hotdish is basically a casserole. Generally, they are made up of four simple ingredients; meat, veggies, cream of mushroom soup, and a starch. I think of casseroles/hotdishes as being wintertime food. They are simple, warm, and hardy. A great dinner for a cold, dark day.

#Hotdish is a Minnesotan casserole | #TaterTotHotdish [Tweet this]

It doesn't feel like a Minnesota winter ever in Hawaii but it gets a little chilly. I've been here for 4 years and I've become acclimated to Hawaiian living. It's great to live somewhere where the temperature highs are usually 80s during the summer and 60s for lows in the winter. This winter has felt colder than the previous ones even though it's really still not winter-like when compared to Minnesota (I know I lived in Minnesota for 2 winters). So, roll your eyes if you live somewhere really cold but I've been cold this winter and a hotdish sounded perfect (this is my husband's favorite).

Tater Tot #Hotdish is perfect #coldweatherfood [Tweet this]

Tater Tot Hotdish

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
1 10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can full of milk
frozen tater tots

Brown ground beef in a frying pan until fully cooked. Remove meat from pan into a large bowl.

Pour off most of the grease from the frying pan, leaving about 1 tsp, and saute the onion over medium heat until translucent. Add the cooked onion to the meat in the large bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the vegetables, soup, and milk to the meat and onions. Stir and mix well.

Pour into an 8x8 inch baking pan and top with a single layer of tater tots (pack them in there tightly you want "full tot coverage"--says my husband).

Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes. Then broil it for a few minutes to make the tots crispier if you like.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.