Walnut and Rice Bake

I am a huge fan of raw walnuts on my nightly supper salad. This leads though to many bags of small pieces of walnuts and 'walnut dust' accumulating in my fridge! Once the pile gets too big, I generally sift the small pieces through a colander to separate out the 'walnut dust' and then slowly use up the remaining small pieces of walnuts. Tonight it was time to clean out my fridge and I decided to use some of the walnuts (I had over 6 cups!!) when making supper.

Here is the recipe for the walnut and rice bake (see picture to the left): 2 cups walnuts, chopped into small pieces, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 red onion, chopped, 4 garlic cloves, minced, 1 leek, chopped, 3 celery stalks, chopped, 2 cups mushrooms (I used portobello and shiitake), chopped, 2 cups of zucchini, chopped, 2 tbsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 2 greens onions, chopped, 2 cups black kale, chopped, 2 cups short grain rice, cooked (brought to boil and reduced to simmer for 4o minutes), 2 cups of beans, cooked (I used a mixture of navy beans and kidney beans - brought to boil and cooked for 60 minutes)

Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan for 2 minutes. Add olive oil, onions, garlic, and leek and saute for 2 minutes. Add celery and saute for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and saute for 2 minutes. Add oregano and sea salt and saute for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

When there is 10 minutes left for the rice to cook, add green onions and black kale to rice pot. Cook for another 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix walnut/vegetable mixture with the brown rice and the beans. Place in a lightly canola oiled baking dish and place in oven for 20 minutes.

Although it is generally best to eat nuts and seeds raw and unsalted (to get the full nutritional benefit from them), it is also fine to have toasted/baked nuts and seeds occasionally. This supper was a hearty and filling meal. This recipe also made a huge amount, so there is lots leftover for later in the week!