MRP: Ye olde standby

Looking through the recipe cards from home, I noticed that one special favorite was missing.  This seemed odd to me considering how frequently it was served at our house in the years between about 1980 and 2000.  But when I was looking through a folder with some recipes written on larger pieces of paper and lots of magazine clippings, I found this:

flipped it over, and voila!

There it was! The Holy Grail, so to speak, of childhood comfort foods!

Of course, you can find this recipe easily online--here's someone else who also grew up with this casserole and has fond memories of it.  

I really wanted to make this, but thought I'd try to adapt it to make it a little healthier for our family.  So I used Jennie-O turkey breakfast sausage (found it right next to the Jimmie Dean stuff).  I also added sliced sauteed mushrooms to the celery, bell pepper (I like sweet rather than green peppers), and onions.  I wanted to figure out something to substitute for the chicken noodle soup dry mix (in order to avoid MSG and also to add fiber).  I was trying to think of how I could get little tiny noodles like those and realized I could use angel hair whole wheat pasta:

and break it into small pieces, about 1 1/2 inches long.  But how to get that salty, addictive chicken flavor?  I just cooked the broken-up angel hair pasta (about half of the package) in 

two cans of Swanson's Natural Goodness broth.  For the rice, I doubled the amount of dry rice to one cup and substituted

some wild rice blend that I had.  (I cooked this separately, earlier in the afternoon since it takes a while).  

I was worried that the final outcome might be a little bland, so I added a little bit of this

to the mushrooms when they were almost done, before I mixed everything together.  Oh, and I added a good dollop of shredded parmesan cheese to the bowl when I mixed all the components.  Just to add a little more subtle flavor.  

I went ahead and sprinkled these on top since I have them on hand

and put the whole thing in a hot oven.  At first I had it uncovered so the almonds would brown, but I worried about the pasta on the top getting too crunchy, so I covered the pan with foil.  

The outcome?

Remember that part in the movie Ratatouille where the critic guy takes one taste of . . . . the ratatouille that Remy makes for him, and he's suddenly transported back to his childhood?

That was tonight.  

Even with all the substitutions, it basically tasted the same!  Salty (but not excessively so), slightly spicy from the sausage, flavorful, warm, and filling.   

The three uninitiated diners here gave this an unqualified six thumbs up. 

So here's my version:

Healthier Sausage Rice Casserole

Serves: an army

1 "tube" turkey breakfast sausage

1 large onion, diced small

2-3 ribs celery, diced small (about 1 cup)

1 red bell pepper, diced small

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2 cans low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 pkg. whole wheat angel hair pasta, broken into roughly 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup wild rice blend or brown rice

Optional:

1 tbsp soy sauce (or to taste)

sliced almonds

1/2 - 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Cook rice with water (usually a 1:2 ratio) according to package directions.  Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth to boil.  Add angel hair pasta and cook just until al dente (about 4-5 minutes).  Set aside.  

In a non-stick skillet, saute breakfast sausage, onions, celery and bell pepper together over medium-high heat, breaking up sausage with spatula into small pieces.  When sausage is no longer pink and vegetables are softened, remove from heat and place in large mixing bowl.  

In empty nonstick skillet, saute mushrooms in a little olive oil over medium high heat.  When they begin to get tender (and give up their liquid) remove from heat.  Add a little soy sauce if desired.

Add mushrooms, pasta (including remaining chicken broth), wild rice and (optional) parm. cheese to sausage mixture in bowl.  Add pepper and/or salt to taste. Mix well.  Pour into a lightly greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with sliced almonds if desired.  Cover with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.  Remove foil for the last five minutes.  

(This would be a great dish to mix up, and then divide into two casserole dishes so that you could freeze one to bake later.  You could easily feed many people (like, 15) with one recipe of this.  The rice and pasta could be cut down to make a smaller sized casserole, too).  

What are some of your favorite sausage casserole memories?