Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Quick Side: Wild Rice

Tonight, I know there will be chicken on my Grill-A-Vator. (Yup, I have the amazing O'Keefe and Merritt with a working broiler.) And right next to it will be a delicious salad with Easter Egg radishes, avocado and my favorite Dijon Vinaigrette along with Wild Rice.  

Wild Rice is such a great side dish. It's actually a grass more than a grain. A grainy grass. Trader Joe's has a Fully Cooked and ready-to-eat pack that serves well when you want to eat beautifully by compiling great ingredients but don't have the luxury of slow cooking. You won't find microwave instructions here either. Not on my radar.

Wild Rice And:
1 package Trader Joe's fully-cooked Wild Rice.
2 Tablespoons EV Olive Oil
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced scallions
Salt (your choice)
Fresh Ground Pepper
Lemon juice (optional, but yummy)

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium flame. Add red onion, cook until translucent. Toss in Trader Joe's Wild Rice. Cook on medium for about 10 minutes. Add scallions. Cook 5 to 10 minutes, to wilt the scallions. Salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze the juice of 1/4 lemon. Serve. 20 minutes max cooking time.

Variation inspiration:
- Add garlic salt
- Start with onion and minced garlic
- Without garlic and scallions add 1 cup chopped fresh or canned peaches
- Add chopped celery
- Add brown rice, butter, feta cheese, cilantro, fresh tomato, herbs, herbs, herbs

1 comment:

  1. Yum. We eat a lot of wild rice here. It's local! ;) I just made a huge batch of buttered wild rice. We had it as a side to our baked ham and then later in the week in a wild rice soup. You know me and my big batch cooking! ;)

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