Wild rice is a wonderful accompaniment to a holiday meal. This salad has ingredients that remind me of the holiday season – cranberries, mandarin oranges, and nuts – dressed in a light and zippy dressing. It is served cold so it can easily be made a day or two in advance and not take up any precious stove or oven space or your time on the day of your gathering.
Start with measuring out the rice and stock or water. I generally us a vegetable or chicken stock to impart flavor in the wild rice. To keep it vegetarian, use vegetable stock or plain water.
While not a necessary step, I like to toast the wild rice first. It helps bring out a more nutty flavor. No need to use oil, just dry toast the rice over medium high heat for 3 to 5 minutes. You’ll hear it popping and see it starting to brown. Careful not to over toast, you don’t want it to taste burnt.
After toasting, add the stock or water. Be careful, the pan is already hot and the liquid will bubble and pop when you first start adding it to the pan.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook the rice for about 45 minutes until tender.
While the wild rice is cooking, whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss in the onions and parsley.
Over medium high heat, dry toast the nuts. This step is also not necessary, but toasting brings out the nutty flavor. Once the nuts start browning, remove from heat and set aside.
You can also peel and segment the mandarin oranges, measure out the cranberries, add the nuts, and set this aside.
When the rice is done, if there is still liquid in the pan you can just strain it.
Mix the rice in with the dressing and put in the refrigerator for about an hour to cool down.
Once the rice is cool, mix in the oranges, cranberries, and nuts. It’s ready to eat. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or 2 before you are ready to eat it. When you are ready for your holiday meal, put it in a serving container and pass it around.
Enjoy!
Holiday Wild Rice (or Nutty Wild Rice Salad)
Equipment
- Knife and cutting board
- Large bowl and whisk
- 4 to 6 quart stock pot
- Small non-stick sauté pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup wild rice uncooked
- 3 cups vegetable stock water, or chicken stock
- 4 each mandarin oranges
- 1/3 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/3 cup almonds sliced
- ½ cup cranberries dried
Dressing
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp ginger fresh, minced
- 2 tbsp red onion minced
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
Instructions
- Put a 4 to 6 quart sauce pan on the stove and turn on heat to medium high. Add the rice and dry toast for 3 to 5 minutes to brown.
- Add the water or stock and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 45 minutes until rice is cooked. If there is excess liquid, drain rice.
While rice is cooking:
- In a large bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients.
Prep the rest of the salad ingredients:
- Dry toast (don’t use any oil) the nuts over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until they start to brown. Remove from heat immediately.
- Peel and segment mandarin oranges and get ½ cup dried cranberries.
- When the rice is done (strain it if there is any liquid left), add it to the dressing and mix well. Put in refrigerator for about 1 hour to cool down.
- Add the rest of the salad ingredients and mix well.
- Enjoy!
