Wild Rice Hotdish

Wild rice hotdish was a staple in my house growing up. It makes an excellent side to so much of the wild game that we ate around our dinner table. Wild rice is also incredibly good for you. It is packed with protein, folic acid, niacin, magnesium and fiber. When the leaves start to change color and fall, I know it is time to start filling my freezer with wild rice hotdish, which is actually much more like a pilaf. This recipe is so easy and it freezes really well. It is so easy to grab a dinner sized portion of wild rice from the freezer and then cook it in the microwave with a splash of water or chicken broth.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
10 oz. of sliced mushrooms (baby bella, white)
3-4 sliced of bacon, chopped
splash of olive oil

1 c. wild rice

3-4 c. of chicken stock (use homemade, Swanson's or the Costco brand)*

1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) In a dutch oven, let a splash of olive oil warm up over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, mushrooms and bacon and saute until the onions are translucent and the celery is no long crunchy.
3) Add the wild rice and the chicken broth and place the mixture in the oven for 1-1 1/2 hours, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.*

If you want to freeze it, I recommend measuring the rice out in two cup portions and either using a ziploc bag or one of the ziploc perfect portion bags meant for the freezer, and placing the portions in a larger freezer bag.

*Depending on what kind of cookware you are using, this might change. For instance, I found that in my cast iron dutch oven, the liquid cooked off much faster because it conducts heat better than my non-stick dutch oven. I use 4 cups of liquid versus 3 when I am using cookware that conducts heat better.