Recipe Review: Heidi Swanson's Mushroom Casserole

Mushroom casserole with eggs, ricotta, sour cream, cheese, and hearty whole grains. That's the picture we had when we first saw this on Heidi's blog, and it called out to us. It's been on our to-make list for weeks now, and we finally got the chance! Here's what we thought of this nourishing, whole grain mushroom casserole.

This recipe has two things going for it immediately. It's delicious, and it's flexible. We were in a rush while putting this together, and we didn't have time to cook the brown rice called for in the recipe. So we substituted pre-cooked young wheat, this Greenwheat Freekeh from Trader Joe's. We also skimped a bit on browning the mushrooms.

But once cooked, the components of this casserole get pulled together fast. You just mix all those whole grains together with the mushrooms and dairy, and bake for about an hour.

Overall, this casserole does take time, but it's mostly hands-off time. The result was a comforting, nourishing casserole -- creamy and light at the same time, and full of the flavor of mushrooms. We're looking forward to making this again and experimenting with different herbs and varieties of grains.

• Get the recipe: Mushroom Casserole at 101 Cookbooks

(Image: Faith Durand)

Comments (8)

"As I remember it she combined rice, mushrooms (or creamy mushroom soup) and cheese in a casserole dish and baked it until it was creamy, melty, and golden at the edges."

this is my guilty pleasure. i usually just stir everything together in the pot, though, and almost no one else thinks it looks appetizing. maybe if i try the healthy fancy version, it'll go over better...

posted by youreacigarette on January 26th 2009 at 4:43pm
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I've made this twice since Heidi posted it--obviously it was a success. I used brown rice both times. I also used lowfat cottage cheese and lowfat greek style yogurt to make it a bit lighter, and it was still great. Makes a great lunch the next day, too.

posted by Forthright Fattie on January 26th 2009 at 4:59pm
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We made this as well and really enjoyed it. There was something very tasty about the simple flavors and it made great leftovers. My staunchly carnivorous hubby insists it wasn't quite hearty enough for him, but I found it very filling.

posted by jesser on January 26th 2009 at 5:06pm
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Yeah... I've made it three times myself (just this weekend actually). Most times I add in some kind of greens to boost the nutrition, and a little mustard powder to the sour cream/cottage cheese/egg step. Much more appetizing than that photo looks...

posted by any such name on January 26th 2009 at 5:12pm
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Ok, I might need to try this. I thought it looked a little...lacking in the photo but with this many rave reviews how can I ignore it?

posted by Tiamat_the_Red on January 26th 2009 at 5:13pm
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I agree with Tiamat. The casserole as pictured looks narnar.

posted by FloydLaw on January 26th 2009 at 10:59pm
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this has become a frequent dinner for me and a great way to use up things languishing in my fridge-- the last version I made included artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers.

posted by FromTheFuture on January 27th 2009 at 11:42am
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Weird. I made this for the first time last night, too. I also subbed greek yogurt for the sour cream and fresh rosemary for the tarragon because I didn't want to go to the store. I added a bit of Italian Turkey Sausage because I haven't quite weened my hubby off meat. We thought it could have used some sage and maybe some red pepper flakes or something. I love the idea of adding roasted peppers. The beauty of this is that it is so adapatable to what you have on hand and so quick and easy.

posted by mich208 on January 27th 2009 at 2:25pm
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