Green Bean & Wild Rice Casserole

This is a real can-o-dis casserole recipe that is easy to throw together, but time consuming if only because wild rice takes a good hour or more to properly cook.  You could add shredded rotisserie chicken, ground turkey or even ground beef to make this a complete one-dish dinner, however on this occasion it served as an accompaniment to leftover Bacon Lattice Wrapped Meatloaf, the recipe for which can be found here.

Wild rice isn't rice at all actually, and it isn't wild - at least not any more.  The grain of a semi-aquatic grass is indigenous to the Great Lakes region of North America and today, most wild rice sold in the US has been cultivated and harvested in Minnesota.

Ingredients
1 cup wild rice
2 14.5-oz cans chicken broth, about 3.6 cups (like, Swanson)
1 14.5-oz can French cut green beans, drained (like, Del Monte)
1 10.5-oz can condensed cream of celery soup (like, Campbell's)
1 cup mayonnaise (like, Kraft)
1/2 cup whipped cream cheese (like, Philadelphia Whipped)
1 4.9-oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained (like, Signature Select)
1 4-oz jar diced pimentos (like, Dromedary or Cento)
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
non-stick cooking spray (like, Pam)
1 cup plain bread crumbs (like, Progresso)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

The Recipe
Because I live at 5,000+ feet above sea level, water boils at a slightly lower temperature and therefore cooks food more slowly than at sea level. This fact causes me to adjust cooking times and temperatures all the time, but it is no more evident than when cooking wild rice, which is a lengthy process to begin with. While the package advises a ratio of three cups of liquid to one cup of rice, I add two-thirds cup more liquid. Moreover, the package advises the rice will cook in 45-55 minutes. I needed every bit of an hour and fifteen minutes. And I cook wild rice in chicken broth instead of salted water because it makes the rice more flavorful for zero added effort. That's my kind of cooking.

The key is to not rush it.  Keep the broth simmering gently but firmly; keep a lid askew on the pot and stir every fifteen minutes or so.  Once the rice has opened up (and looks like little hot dogs in a bun), then turn the heat off and allow the rice to sit for at least fifteen minutes.  Drain the rice if you have any liquid left.  I had only a couple of tablespoons of broth left, so I didn't bother to drain it.

Yes, yes, this is another can-o-dis recipe because it's largely just mixing cans of products together and baking in a casserole.  That doesn't take any culinary prowess, but it also doesn't take much culinary effort and on a night I'm serving leftover meatloaf for dinner, that would be the point.

In a mixing bowl, combine the rice with all the other ingredients, not including the bread crumbs and butter. Mix well for a homogeneous blend.

In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the melted butter and toss well to combine.  After you put the rice mixture into a 9" x 11" casserole dish treated with non-stick cooking spray, level out the top of the mixture then spoon out the bread crumbs for a consistent coating.

Pre-heat an oven to 375F degrees and bake uncovered for 50 minutes to an hour.