Wild Rice and Sausage Casserole

Leslie in Texas's Note:

A delicious side dish for just about any kind of meat. Originally from a Junior League of El Paso cookbook. I've been making this for over 20 years and everyone has always enjoyed it! It can be assembled earlier in the day and baked later.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 (6 ounce) package uncle ben long grain and wild rice blend or 1 cup wild rice, mixture
• 1 lb bulk sausage
• 1 lb mushroom, sliced
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
• salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (1 3/4 ounce) package blanched almonds

Directions:

1. Fry sausage; crumble and drain on paper towels.
2. Remove all but about 1 tablespoon sausage grease; add onions and mushrooms and sauté till onions are wilted.
3. In another pan, melt butter; stir in flour.
4. Stir in cream and chicken broth, stirring until thickened.
5. Add seasonings to simmering sauce.
6. Add the sausage, onions and mushrooms to the sauce.
7. Add wild rice mix with package of seasonings to the sauce mixture. (If using plain wild rice mixture, you may want to adjust the dried spices added to the sauce.) Stir well.
8. Pour into a greased 1 1/2-2-quart casserole dish.
9. Cover and bake for 50 minutes at 350°.
10. Remove cover and sprinkle with almonds.
11. Return to oven for about 10 minutes to toast almonds.

Reviews

[Mrs. Hughes]

I thought this was really good. I used deer sausage and followed the recipe exactly. It had a nice flavor and was fairly easy to make.

[HeidiSue]

WOW..this was wonderful! I even messed up a bit, but it still turned out incredible. At the last minute I decided to double the recipe. I only had 1 1/2 lbs of sausage and 1 lb of mushrooms. I accidentally poured in the whole pint of cream (2 cups) and then only had 4 cups of chicken broth, so I guess I had the right amount of "liquid" to double it, just not the right liquids. I had something cooking in my oven for 5 hours at 300, so I just stuck this in with it and ended up baking it for about 1 1/2 hours, just perfect. I also left out the almonds. Despite my mess up and my shortages it was still delicious, everyone enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the leftovers tonight. Thanks so much!

[out of here]

Very good rice casserole,I used 2 hot italian sausage links and the rest jimmy dean sausage for the 1# of sausage.I also added more cream when it was just about done.Supberb,will have a keeper in this recipe.Thank you ,Leslie in Texas.Rose