Mushroom and Wild Rice Pie

I shared in an early winter potluck this past weekend, hosted by Joanna of My Vegetable Blog and The Kitchn.

While I cook often, I don't have the space to entertain as much as I would like. Joanna and Luke have a beautiful apartment, with grown-up features like a dining room table, a Christmas tree, and a lovable hound named Clementine.

Joanna made several dishes, including these subtlety spiced lemongrass soup shots.

Erin and Mia made rosemary tomato focaccia.

Joanna also made these delicious "winter rolls" filled with butternut squash, cilantro, red onion, rice noodles, and pistachios.  Dipped in a spicy cranberry sauce, these rolls were the clear favorite of the day. (Update: Joanna posted her recipe for these excellent rolls over at the Kitchn.)

I was taken with the Mushroom and Farro Pie featured in the November 2008 issue of Gourmet Magazine, and it turns out I wasn't alone. Smitten Kitchen tried the recipe a few weeks ago and confirmed my initial hesitation -- the pie came out a bit bland.  Mild grains cooked in water as a main ingredient didn't seem too exciting to me, so I came up with my own version of this gorgeous dish.

 

Mushroom and Wild Rice Pie
Inspired by Gourmet Magazine

Ingredients

3/4 C wild rice
3 C vegetable broth
1 Tbl butter
1 Tbl olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 leeks, finely chopped (1 1/3 C)
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 lb portobella mushrooms, sliced
1/4 C dry white wine
1 Tbl Balsamic vinegar
1 C goat cheese
1 (1-lb) package frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp water and a pinch of salt 

Method

Prepare the wild rice as package directs, using broth in place of water.

While wild rice cooks, melt butter with oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat, then cook garlic and leeks, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just softened, about 5 minutes. Add white wine and Balsamic vinegar and simmer 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and stir in wild rice, then cool completely.

Stir in goat cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.  (This filling can be made the night before.)

Roll out 2 pieces of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into an 11-inch squares. Stack squares on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet with a second sheet of parchment between them, then cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.

Put a large baking sheet on rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.

Set aside top square of pastry on parchment. Spread cooled filling evenly over pastry on baking sheet, leaving a 1-inch border. Brush border with some of egg wash, and, using parchment, invert second square on top, lightly pressing to seal border. Brush top with remaining egg wash, then crimp border with a fork and trim with a pizza wheel or sharp knife.

Cut a few small steam vents in top of pie and decoratively score pastry. Slide pie on parchment onto preheated baking sheet in oven and bake until puffed and deep golden brown, about 45 minutes.

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I think the pie turned out well.  Though, it still looked more impressive than it tasted.  Next time I think I will reduce the rice by half and double the mushrooms.  Adding some wilted spinach to the filling would be nice as well.

Comments

[Joanna]

The Mushroom and Wild Rice Pie was delicious! Great call on the goat cheese. And so pretty!

[Mike]

Nice!

I made the Mushroom Pie for Thanksgiving, and I agree, it looked better than it tasted, but it still tasted great.

I used pearled barley in place of farro, but wild rice sounds awesome!

I used some dried porcini and used the mushroom broth in place of veggie broth, which I have found to be horribly bland unless you make it yourself. I threw in some herbs to round out the flavors. Mine ended up with a nice strong mushroom flavor. Next time, I might use more of a mushroom blend, maybe use wild mushrooms...

I like the choice of goat cheese - that is what my wife and I felt would be the single best improvement over the ricotta.

Would you stick with white wine? I used madeira as per the original recipe and I liked the way the sweet red gave the mushrooms even more depth.

Ultimately, my feeling was that the somewhat bland flavors were perfect for TG because there are so many other flavors on the plate. To stand alone, it needs a sauce. But I haven't been able to decide on one. Some play on a bechemel? Some sort of madeira reduction to pull out those flavors? Any thoughts?

[Talita]

This pie looks very, very tasty!! The focaccia and winter rolls looks so yummy!!

[Gemma]

Thanks Joanna and Talita! Mike, using the porcini mushrooms and mushroom stock sounds like an excellent idea. I am going to do that next time. Regarding the wine choice, I have to admit that I just used what I had on hand. I'm interested to hear that you thought the Madeira added so much flavor. I'll buy a bottle next time. I think the bechemel would be too heavy, but the reduction sounds intriguing. Maybe even something slightly sweeter like a wine-y cranberry sauce?

[Jeni]

Just made the mushroom wild rice pie. Used sun-dried tomatoes and added a finely chopped spanish onion--it was delicious and hearty enough to quiet the meat eaters in my family. Yum!

[Gemma]

Excellent! Sun-dried tomatoes sound like an excellent addition. I will try that next time.

[acaiberrypills]

good read bookmarked will return to read more posts