Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole

Have you seen that President's Choice commercial where Galen Weston talks about food and wonders why someone would eat the pineapple, or the mushroom, or whatever?

 

For real.  Who would have thought that cutting into that spiny, evil-looking thing would result in sweet and juicy pineapple? 

And who was the brave soul that looked at raw wild rice and thought "yeah.  Let's try this.  Looks delicious".

 

 

How hungry would you have to be?  Probably pretty hungry.

 

I have no Cast of Characters picture for you.  They were too busy being turned into dinner to have their picture taken.

 

Start cooking the very weird wild rice according to the package instructions.

 

Be nervous about it.

 

While the rice is cooking, melt butter in a frying pan and add in the onions and green peppers.  Cook them until they are soft.  It takes about 5 minutes.

 

Then, in a large bowl, combine the cream of celery (or mushroom, or chicken, or whatever) soup.

 

And the cheddar cheese.

 

And the cooked onions and peppers.

 

And the shrimp.

 



And the wild rice.  When cooked, the rice kind of breaks out of the black shell so there's soft fluffy bits and chewy black bits.  It's strange and delightful.

The proverbial pineapple of rice if you will.

 

Mix it all together, put it into a casserole dish, top it with additional cheese and bake it in the oven until it's bubbly.

 



I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed this casserole.  It was creamy and cheesy, the shrimp was plump and juicy, and the rice was actually completely perfect. 

Even my 5-year old niece, albeit slightly freaked out at first, willingly cleaned her plate!

It's an easy weeknight meal that anyone would love.  Although maybe your most finicky eaters might freak out totally.

And the leftovers were great too!

Enjoy! - Heather

Shrimp and Wild Rice Casserole

8 oz package of wild rice
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deceived
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
10 ounce can cream of celery soup
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Prepare wild rice according to package directions, but remove 1/4 cup of cooking water.  Drain and cool
2. In a medium pot, bring 2 cups of water and 1/2 tablespoon salt to a boil.  Add the shrimp, cook for 1 minute.  Drain and set aside.
3. In a frying pan, melt the butter and add the green pepper and onion.  Cook until softened - about 5 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
5. In a large bowl, combine the soup, 1 1/2 cups cheese, cooked pepper and onion, the shrimp, and the wild rice.
6. Add the salt and pepper.
7. Grease a 7 x 11 casserole dish, spread the rice mixture into the dish and top with the remaining cheese.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Source:  Kitchme