Ingredients
- 1 cup wild rice
- 6 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 cup diced fresh mushrooms
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups cooked turkey, diced
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 3 cups turkey or chicken broth
- 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish and set aside.
- Rinse rice thoroughly in a colander and transfer to a 2-quart saucepan. Cover with boiling water and let stand for an hour. Drain.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter and sauté mushrooms and onions until softened, about 10 minutes.
- In the prepared casserole dish, combine rice, sautéed vegetables, salt, pepper, turkey and almonds. Add broth and cream. Mix lightly.
- Cover and bake for 1-1/2 hours. Remove cover; sprinkle with cheese and dot with remaining butter. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
Make weeknight dinner with yesterday’s holiday turkey. Try a turkey leftover casserole with rice for whole grain goodness.
When it’s time to clean up Thanksgiving dinner, I panic. Even after we divvy up leftovers, it always seems like there’s still so much turkey staring back at me. (And honestly, I’m tired of turkey by then.) What I really need is a go-to recipe that is easy, tasty, and uses up a good chunk of my leftover turkey. Because I just can’t do another turkey sandwich.
I cracked open the Comfort Food Cookbook and found several recipes that would do the trick, from White Turkey Chili to Turkey Tetrazzini. I settled on the Wild Rice and Turkey: Leftover Casserole Recipe — and it’s a keeper.
This turkey leftover casserole calls for 3 cups diced turkey — which put a healthy dent in my turkey stash. (Hallelujah!) Plus, who can resist the tryptophan trifecta of butter, heavy cream, and turkey? I wondered whether the 1-1/2 cups heavy cream would drown out the other flavors, but that wasn’t the case. The onion and mushroom flavors came through nicely, the sliced almonds added a subtle crunch without being overwhelming, and the rich, creamy texture was comfort food to the core.
While I followed the recipe, one of the beauties of casseroles is their flexibility. If you don’t have turkey on hand, chicken should make a fine substitute. Dark meat is A-OK, too. Have leftover celery from your stuffing recipe? Throw some in the sauté pan with the onions and mushrooms. I used basic button mushrooms, but a mix of mushrooms — shiitakes, creminis, etc. — might make this casserole sing in a whole new way. You could even throw in more than the one cup that’s called for. The one thing I wouldn’t veer from is using wild rice versus white or brown. The flavor and texture of wild rice adds so much to this recipe.
This casserole takes about an hour-and-a-half to cook, so you’ll even have time to succumb to a Turkey Day snooze or catch part of the football game. You deserve a break, after all!
