A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a mushroom and wild rice casserole by cookbook author and blogger Heidi Swanson. I didn’t have most of the ingredients for her recipe (actually, except for mushrooms I had almost none of the ingredients), the most obvious being the rice. Since I *try* to follow a gluten-free diet most of the time (sigh, self-control has never been my forte) I always have a lots of oats in my pantry. I keep rolled oats, groats and steel cut on hand and generally end up boiling all three different varieties in some way for breakfast. With no rice in the kitchen I thought I’d try making a savory gratin with a tin of Irish steel cut oats instead. A hearty grain with a nice bite to them, I thought surely they’d be just as good as rice!
I used meaty, fluffy looking Lion’s Mane mushrooms from my Local Roots CSA (but any variety would do) and went a little heavy on the dairy products. My husband didn’t really know what to expect when I told him what he was eating. “That is bizarre but AMAZING!” he exclaimed.
Mushroom and Steel Cut Oats Gratin
serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
1 cup steel cut oats
Unsalted butter, for dish
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound (8 ounces) mushrooms, such as Lion’s Mane or oyster, cleaned and chopped
1/2 pound shallots, trimmed and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup crème fraîche
Freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
Cook steel cut oats according to package directions (you want them to be a bit chewy) and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Butter a 2-quart gratin or baking dish and set aside.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large 12-inch skillet. Add the mushrooms and shallots and season with 2 large pinches of salt. Sauté until the mushrooms have released their liquid and the shallots are beginning to brown, stirring frequently, about 7 to 9 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine, stirring to scrape any bits from the bottom of the pan, and cook until evaporated. Turn off heat, add the cooked oats to the skillet and stir until combined.
In a large bowl combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, sour cream, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the oat and mushroom mixture to the bowl and stir until well combined. Pour into prepared gratin dish. Top with grated cheese.
Bake gratin until cheese is golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Top with fresh thyme leaves and chopped pecans.
This recipe is partnered with Local Roots NYC, a small, mission-driven business here to serve fellow New Yorkers and regional growers. Click here to join!