Chicken Wild Rice Casserole with Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms (Restaurant Version)
Rich casserole of chicken of the woods mushrooms, chicken, and wild rice topped with fried shallots.
Serves 6 as an entrée, along with a side of fresh vegetables
½cupgreen garlicgarlic scapes, or 1 small onion and 2 small minced cloves of garlic
6ozunsalted butter
1tablespoonchopped fresh thyme plus a few sprigs for the stock
1cupparched wild rice
1cupheavy cream or half and half
½cupdry white wine
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepperto taste
⅓cupall purpose flour or equivalent for the roux
3.5cupswater
Instructions
Cooking the chicken
Put the chicken legs, a couple sprigs of thyme, the wine, and 3.5 cups of water in a pot. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then turn down the heat to low, cover the chicken with a round of parchment paper (optional, but holds in moisture) and simmer, well covered for 1 hour, or until the legs are tender.
Shallots
Peel the shallots, then shave paper thin into rounds on a mandoline, toss with the ½ cup flour, tap off the excess, and spread in a single layer in a cast iron pan or baking sheet. Melt half the lard (or use oil) and drizzle over them.
Bake the shallots at 325 for 30-45 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp, turning them over once or twice while baking, then remove to a paper towel to weep excess fat. Alternately (and much easier/faster) deep fry the dredged shallots at 300F for a minute or two until crisp and browned, then drain and reserve. You can also fry the shallots without flour, but I haven’t done that myself. (see note and link below).
Making the bechamel sauce
Remove the chicken legs from the pot, strain the stock, pick the meat and cut into 2 inch pieces. Reserve the meat and stock separately. You should have about 4 cups of stock left, add a little extra water if you don’t.
Bring 2 cups of the stock to a simmer with the wild rice, turn down the heat to low, and cook on the lowest possible setting for 15-20 minutes or until just tender and reserve. Keep the rice in the hot pan, covered, to allow it to continue cooking with steam. Mix the remaining 2 cups of stock with the cream.
Cooking the chicken mushrooms and assembling
Meanwhile, cook the chicken of the woods in the remaining 4 oz of fat adding the onions or other alliums after the mushrooms have wilted and the edges of the pan are starting to color. Season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes until the onions are translucent. then sprinkle over the flour and mix in. Gradually stir in the cream-stock mixture in batches to avoid lumps and cook until thickened.
Add the rice, thyme, and chicken meat, double check the seasoning and adjust as needed—it may take a few rounds of seasoning, mixing and tasting depending on how your stock was seasoned.
Baking and serving
Spread the mixture into a baking dish, like a 9x11 casserole size, or a 10 inch cast iron skillet, cover and bake for 30-40 minutes at 350, or until hot throughout. Top with the fried shallots just before serving, flashing the pan in the oven for a few minutes to refresh the crispness and texture of the shallots if needed.
Notes
*There's a number of recipes showing explaining how to fry shallots without four, just google "fried shallots". I haven't tried it myself as I prefer the extra crunch the flour dredge provides.