Mushrooms and Rice and Bacon, Oh My

Not sure why, but yesterday I wanted mushrooms with my dinner. We had about 6 oz. of whole crimini mushrooms in the fridge so I just needed to decide what to make. Sweetie didn't have any preferences when I asked him, so I went with a rice dish. There wasn't a recipe for this and I didn't measure some of the ingredients, so I'll write up a recipe as best I can to keep it for the next time and to share it with you.This is a wonderful side dish with nutty flavors and delightful savory notes. If you like mushrooms, you'll love this dish!

The first thing I did was to chop some yellow onion and saute it in olive oil. Then I added the sliced mushrooms and cooked those together with some dried thyme and a little water. It smelled wonderful!

After that I decided that I wanted both bacon and pecans with the rice mixture, but first I started some brown rice mixed with chicken broth in the rice cooker and some wild rice and water in a pot on the stove.

While the rice cooked, I rendered the bacon enough so that it would crumble when it was cooled, poured off almost all of the bacon grease, then toasted the pecans in the pan I cooked the bacon in.

For timing, the wild rice was the key since it takes a little longer to cook than the brown rice. Once the wild rice was done I drained it and added it and the cooked brown rice to the mushroom mixture, along with the crumbled bacon and toasted, chopped pecans. After a quick stir and a minute on low heat to make sure everything was warm, I served it up. It was really delicious. The rice had a little chew, the nuts added crunch, the bacon and caramelized onions perked up the flavor and it all went really, really well with the mushrooms. This is a dish worth making again, and soon.

Mushroom Rice with Bacon and Pecans
Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
6 oz. small crimini mushrooms, cleaned, dried and sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup brown rice, rinsed
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup wild rice, rinsed
2 cups water
1-2 strips bacon
1/2 cup pecans

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-hot heat. Saute' the onions in the hot oil for 1/2 minute, then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, until onions become dark golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and the thyme and the water, stir, cover and let cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When time is up, turn off the heat and set aside.

While mushrooms are cooking, put the brown rice into a medium heavy bottomed pot or rice cooker and add the broth. Cover and cook over medium to low heat (mixture should simmer) until rice is cooked and tender. Set aside.

While mushrooms and brown rice are cooking, put the wild rice into a medium heavy bottomed pot or rice cooker and add the water. Cover and cook over medium to low heat (mixture should simmer) until rice is cooked and tender. Drain. Set aside.

The brown rice will take 20 - 30 minutes and the wild rice closer to 45 minutes.

While rice is cooking, in a small frying pan, cook the bacon until it is crisp enough to crumble when cool. Let cool on a paper towel, then crumble. Discard the extra bacon grease in the pan, but don't wipe it. OK to have a little bit of grease left in the pan.

In the pan the bacon was cooked in toast the pecans for 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring and turning them over as needed to keep them from burning. Set aside to cool, then chop the nuts.

Once all the rice is cooked, reheat the mushroom mixture over medium heat for about a minute, then add the two kinds of rice, the crumbled bacon and the chopped pecans. Stir well to combine, heat another minute over medium-low heat, covered, then serve while hot.