Holiday Meals: Caramelized Onion and Mushrooms with Wild Rice Stuffing (or Dressing)

I have made Thanksgiving Dinner since I was 14 years old.

Yes, 14.

Any child of  immigrant parents will tell you that while the food of your motherland is great... sometimes, it's not what you want. Growing up I want to try things you hear about from other people. For example: meatloaf, fish sticks and tacos. I didn't have a taco until I went to dinner at a friend's house. I think I ate 10. I was 8 years old at the time.

So for Thanksgiving, all the kids are having turkey. My mother, bless her heart, tried making what I wanted:  meatloaf, mac and cheese and tuna salad casserole. She drew the line when it came to turkey.

Finally, at 14, I was old enough to understand good old mom's food is tinged with seasoning and techniques that she has not deviated from in 20 years. Everything that comes from her hand will taste vaguely, well, Asian. Which, as I get older, I find hysterical that whenever I try to cook something Asian I get the "it's not quite Asian-flavored" comment. Eh, to each their own.

Back to Thanksgiving....

I have been making this particular recipe for over 10 years. It started as a Thanksgiving recipe testing, before I found out that you are not suppose to test recipes on Thanksgiving. Yes, I was young and ambitious. Also many items other Thanksgiving dishes were canned, boxed or otherwise pretty easy to handle.

After a few Thanksgiving / Christmas Eve dinners I noticed that bread stuffing was being made then wasted. It was happening year after year. The solution was easy. Throw out the box and make something else. So I went hunting for another recipe. What I got was a pretty delicious stuffing recipe from Epicurious. It was popular with the family, it was great with the friends. It was talked about until I made it again the following year. And the year after that. Add on the occasional Christmas Eve dinner..... and well, you get the picture.

Until the year I couldn't get home for Thanksgiving. And I could make my stuffing. Because I had to work. *Cry a small tear*

Then I realized, I don't have to wait until Thanksgiving to make this stuffing. I can make it whenever I wanted. So I did. However, a trip to the supermarket revealed that there's rarely turkey to be found in the middle of April. So I stuffed 4 Cornish game hen instead. Then fed my roommate, who happened to get home from work when I pulled it out of the oven. She cried happy tears and declare it delicious. (She had not eaten any food that day so it might have been her blood sugar talking)

I had another breakthrough this year from Cook's Illustrated, which I am going to declare the best cooking magazine and cookbooks I've ever had. I just purchase a 3 year magazine subscription and put all the books on my wish list. I suggest you do the same. Like now.

Or after you finish reading this post.

In any case, this is a good enough recipe to use at fancy Holiday gatherings but just as good at your any day dinner table with a roommate with a glass of supermarket wine.

The recipe differs from the original in a few ways:
-First, I halved it. Even at Thanksgiving it's a lot of food.
-Second, I had to use dried cranberries instead of dried pears. Do you know how hard it is to find dried pears? They are none to be found in Hawaii and for some reason I couldn't even find them on the mainland this year. Obviously, it is not the most popular dried fruit.
-Lastly, using a technique from Cook's Illustrated (the best cooking magazine ever), I flavored the stuffing without actually stuffing the turkey. Which was very helpful because a 22 lbs turkey already took too long in the oven as it was.

So call it stuffing, call it dressing, just make it, because you will call it delicious.


Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms with Wild Rice Stuffing (or Dressing)

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 large onions, halved, thinly sliced
generous 1/2 pound assorted wild mushrooms, sliced
1.5 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
salt and pepper
sugar

2.5 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade (but canned will work)
1.5 teaspoons chopped fresh sage, divided
1/2 cups wild rice (4-ounce)
Heaping 1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 cups dried cranberries (about 3.5 ounces)
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 turkey wings, separated at joints (for fancy-smancy Family Gatherings)
OR
4-5 Cornish game hens, halved (for everyday enjoyment)



Instructions
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar; sauté until very tender and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Transfer onions to large bowl. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in same pot over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and 1/2 tablespoon thyme, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar; sauté until mushrooms are deep brown, about 12 minutes. Add to bowl with onions. Season with salt and pepper.

Bring broth, 1/2 tablespoon thyme, and 1 teaspoon sage to boil in heavy large deep saucepan. Mix in wild rice; return to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30 minutes. Mix in white rice; cover and simmer until all rice is tender and almost all liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes longer. Stir in caramelized onions and mushrooms, remaining 1/2 tablespoon thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon sage. Stir in dried cranberries and heat until warm through, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Take off the heat and stir in 3/4 cup parsley.

For a Fancy-Smancy Family Gathering: 
Make 1-2 days beforehand. The morning of your event take all the stuffing and dump it into a slow cooker that's been sprayed with cooking spray. Flatten the top. Take the turkey wings, and fry them on high heat until all the skin is brown. It does not have to be cooked through. Dump all the turkey wings, any sauces in the pan and anything you scrap off the bottom of the pan on top of the stuffing. Turn on low and leave it there until you are ready for dinner. I left it about 8 hours on low but I think we could have started eating it at the 5 hour point.

For Dinner right now:
Preheat oven to 400°F. Put half a Cornish game hen in your hand skin side down. Take a large spoonful of stuffing and smear it inside the bird. Flip the bird onto a baking sheet with stuffing side down and skin side up. Season skin with salt and pepper and bake until done. About 35-45 minutes. Serve with your favorite vegetable and some everyday wine.

Leftover Pulled Chicken Enchiladas

I have always lived with someone. First it was my family, then college dorms and college apartments, then a variety of post-college apartments and houses that most often came with a roommate. It those years I've had my fair share of wonderful, fun and perfect-for-me roommates. I've also had my fair share of non-cleaning, rude, inconsiderate roommates. So these last 6 months have been in a new experience for me, as I am doing something I've never done before:

Be roommate free!

It's a different feeling when someone doesn't yell at me for not doing dishes or leaving my stuff all around. Actually the good roommates understand and sometimes would do my dishes or put my stuff in my room for me. So I'm sad I don't have a good roommate but I'm glad I also don't have a bad roommate yelling at me for leaving my purse's insides all strewn about while I was searching for a certain something for 20 minutes.

Because I can get a little obsessed/crazed like that.

I currently reside in a 600 square feet, 1-bedroom apartment (yes, that measurement includes the lanai). It has been liberating to empty out my purse all over the place and not have to worry about it. However, the weirdest change is I've had to drastically reduce how much I cook, as in volume. I use to live with other professionals, which meant a full house of working-full-time-plus-the-overtime-you-don't-get-paid-but-expected-to-work people. As such, leftovers were always welcome after a 12 hour workday. It use to be whenever I cooked I always wanted to fill the largest storage container and stash it in the fridge. Now I'm living alone. I have to adjust down the measurements or end up eating turkey chili for every meal... 2 weeks straight.

In the adjustment period the first thing I learned was to re-purpose my leftovers, since I hate throwing good food away. In this case 2 lbs of chicken breast in the last recipe turned out to be a pulled chicken overload. So I had to change it up. And enchiladas are the perfect leftover user upper.

Leftover Pulled Chicken Enchiladas
1 lb leftover pulled chicken (or you can use any leftovers you have such as beef or pork)
1 can of pinto beans (or black, or kidney)
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
10-12 corn tortillas
1 large can enchilada sauce (or homemade about 3 cups)
1 cup of cheese (or more)
Taco Bar Garnishes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together the chicken, beans, corn and cilantro. Get a baking sheet and pour 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking.

I was in front of a massive grill that was still hot so I threw all the tortillas on there and gave them a 30 second grill on each side. Alternatively, you can heat tortillas by wrapping in a moist paper towel and microwaving for 1-2 minute(s) until they are soft and pliable. 

Take a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mix, put it into the  warm tortilla and roll into a cigar shape. Place seam side down in the baking dish.  Do this until the baking dish is outta space or you run out of filling.

Pour the enchilada sauce over the top. Make sure to wet all areas of the corn tortillas. Top with cheese and stick in the oven.

Bake 20-30 minutes until the cheese is all melted, everything should look golden brown and delicious.

Pull out of the oven and let rest for 15-30 minutes. This is important unless you want tortilla to fall apart while you are scooping it out. It will still taste good, but it will look like a pile o' mess. If you are like me you will spend hours picking at the burnt cheese in the corners of the pan, because I had some spare time.

My choice of garnishes are fresh cilantro, a dollop of greek yogurt and some diced avocado while the enchiladas are still hot out of the oven. But the leftovers I took to work for lunch were plain and just as delicious.

Note: you can make this ahead and freeze it. Or make 2 and freeze 1. Or make 1 and portion it into lunch containers and freeze for work. If you can't tell already this is a great freezable recipe.