This is another Chef Kate recipe and it was very good!  We had just purchased a cast iron skillet and seasoned it and gave this recipe a try.  I will post the original recipe and the changes we made in purple.  I usually don’t make so many changes to a recipe, but we had our personal taste preferences and dietary issues.  This is a solid recipe that you can easily change to suit your needs.  For the wild rice preparation, we cooked it according to the bag’s directions, which was less water than stated below.  We bought the cheese in a chunk at the deli and shredded it ourselves.  Wild rice blends are fine too.  Enjoy! 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup raw wild rice (cooked in 2.5 cups water or vegetable stock)
• 2 large sweet onions, sliced thin (We used 1/2 medium sweet onion)
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 large Portabello mushroom caps, diced (We used orange and red bell peppers, about 3/4 of each pepper)
• 4 large Swiss chard leaves, ribboned (We used 10 pieces spinach, ribboned)
• 4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded
• 1 Tablespoon dried thyme
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock (We used vegetable)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the rice.  Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a large (10″ or larger) cast iron skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Saute the onions for about 15 minutes, or until they start to caramelize. 
3. Stir in the mushrooms (or peppers) and let cook another 5-7 minutes.  Turn off the burner.
4. Carefully stir in the cooked rice, Swiss chard (or spinach), Swiss cheese, thyme, salt and pepper.  Stir all together.
5. Add in the last 1/2 cup of vegetable stock. 
6. Top with bread crumbs.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.