RECIPE DOCTOR
Wild rice au gratin takes care of itself in the oven

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. I'm a vegetarian and cook this recipe for special occasions. Everyone loves it, but I wish it were lower in fat and calories so I could make it more often.

A. This dish attracted me because it was one of those "toss and go" type recipes — you "toss" some ingredients together and then pop the dish in the oven for an hour and half so you can "go" do other things. When it was finished cooking it smelled wonderful and had a perfect, creamy sauce baked right in.

I did make some adjustments (of course), doubling the vegetables, using 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of apple juice instead of half a stick of butter, and switching to reduced-fat sharp cheddar instead of regular cheddar.

I had some of this leftover wild rice dish for lunch and let me just say, it tastes great the next day too.

Wild Rice and Almond au Gratin

• 1 cup wild rice (uncooked)
• 2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
• 2 cups sliced and coarsely chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1/3 cup slivered or sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons apple juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced or chopped garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the wild rice, broth, mushrooms, almonds, celery, pepper, olive oil, apple juice, garlic, and black pepper to a 2-quart casserole dish. Stir ingredients to combine.

Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours or until rice is tender.

Stir the cheese into the rice mixture to combine all the ingredients well and serve.

Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 185 calories, 8 g protein, 17 g carbohydrate, 9.5 g fat (1.9 g saturated, 6.2 g monounsaturated, 1.4 g polyunsaturated fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 2.5 g fiber, 395 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 46 percent.

The original recipe had 243 calories, 8 g protein, 17 g carbohydrate, 18 g fat, 7.5 g saturated fat, and 31 mg cholesterol per serving.

Note: Decrease sodium by using low-sodium broth.

Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook" and "The Flax Cookbook." Write to her at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.