Wild Rice is one of those amazing autumn ingredients that I rarely use during other times of year. Today, I was feeling in love with all things Minnesota. Overjoyed with the beauty of this state and the warmth of the people. I decided to make a meal dedicated to only MN grown and loved ingredients. Starting with MN cultivated wild rice. My mother makes a mean wild rice, every thanksgiving I look forward to her delicacy. So this one is dedicated to my mother, in Vietnam, who I am sure would love to be enjoying some MN grown food.
Ingredients:
1 cup MN cultivated wild rice
7 cups (Minnesota) tap water
1 cups fresh locally bog grown cranberries or dried cranberries for more sweetness
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 bunch of celery
3 sprigs of rosemary
3 sprigs of sage
1 clove of garlic
10 Minnesota grown mushrooms
1 small crisp apple from the apple orchard
drizzle of olive oil
Preheat oven to 375. Wash and drain wild rice, add to boiling water for 20 minutes until partially cooked. I like to add some sage and rosemary to the water to infuse the flavor. Saute the mushrooms, celery and pumpkin seeds. Then put wild rice and water into an oven casserole dish (or if you are from MN "hotdish"). Add the rest of the ingredients chopped up, put into oven for about an hour then drain and uncover for another 15 minutes.
a few notes: since this is a new and made up recipe, next time, I might use dried cranberries or less of the fresh ones, their taste, while exciting, was overpoweringly bitter.
This would be a great addition to any Thanksgiving, and a happy departure from the meat based holiday.
-Ladybird
