Wild Rice with Sausage and Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup wild rice, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups plus 1/2 cup chicken or turkey stock, homemade or canned
• 2 T olive oil or butter
• One 12 oz. pkg. ground pork sausage
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 T finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 12 oz Crimini, Shitaki or white mushrooms, stems removed and coarsely chopped
• 3 T finely chopped fresh parsley
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine the wild rice and 3 cups stock in a saucepan. Bring it to a low, gentle bubble, cover the pan, and cook until the rice is tender, about 60 minutes, or longer if the rice has been sitting in the pantry for a while. Use the lowest simmer your stove allows and a snug lid; check it after a few minutes, and add water if needed during cooking. When it is ready, the rice should still have a little chew, with some of the grains beginning to open. Pour it into a colander and drain thoroughly. Start heating the oven to 350.
2. In a medium sized frying pan, cook the sausage until it has taken on a light brown color, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks if needed. Pour off extra fat, then add the sausage to the cooked rice. If the sausage is not reduced fat, you can transfer it to a fine-mesh colander and rinse it with very hot water to remove some of the grease. Put the drained rice and sausage in a mixing bowl.
3. If the pan is very greasy, wipe it with a paper towel. Warm 1 T olive oil or butter in the pan, add the onions, and cook over low heat until they just begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in the chopped thyme and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the onion and thyme mixture to the rice.
4. Add more olive oil or butter to the frying pan as needed. Stir in the chopped mushrooms and sauté until they are lightly browned and their moisture has cooked away, about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the wild rice mixture.
5. Stir in the chopped parsley and 1/2 cup stock, then season with black pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into a glass or crockery casserole dish with a lid.
6. Bake until everything is hot all the way through, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.