Nutty Wild Rice Recipes

Steps:

• Place rice, water and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer; cook 45 minutes or until tender. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Simmer for 5 additional minutes. Drain any liquid. While rice is cooking, fry bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels. In a skillet, melt butter and saute onion, celery and mushrooms until tender. Add rice, seasoned salt and pepper. Heat through. Just before serving, top with cashews and reserved bacon. , For a make-ahead dish, place cooked rice mixture in a 2-qt. casserole; top with cashews and bacon. Refrigerate until ready to reheat. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, cover rice with cold water to a depth of one inch above rice. Bring to a boil. Drain water from rice and add bouillon. Simmer covered, until liquid is absorbed, about 1 hour. You may have to uncover and raise heat a little to boil off excess liquid.
• Combine all dressing ingredients and mix well.
• While rice is warm, pour on dressing and mix well; let cool.
• In medium bowl, combine rice with peas, celery and green onions. Mix well and refrigerate. When ready to serve, mix in some of the almonds and put remainder on top.

Steps:

• In a non-stick frying pan or toaster oven, slowly toast almonds. Set aside. In a large non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium heat, add onion, carrot, garlic and mushrooms; saute until tender.
• Add rice and cook until lightly browned. Add broth, sherry, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 45 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Toss with nuts and parsley and serve.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large saucepan, bring 5 cups water to a boil over high. Stir in 1 cup wild rice along with the dried berries and maple syrup. Once the mixture comes back to a boil, reduce the heat so the liquid is just simmering, cover and cook until the grains begin to open, 20 to 40 minutes, checking doneness after about 20 minutes. (The rice is done when it has opened slightly, is tender and has quadrupled in size.)
• Drain the excess liquid from the rice. (The cloudy cooking liquid tastes sweet and nutty and can be sipped on its own, reserved for use in the roast turkey with berry-mint sauce and black walnuts, or used as a stock substitute.)
• Meanwhile, toast the hazelnuts: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them until the skin blisters and cracks, and they begin to smell nutty, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a clean dish towel and massage them aggressively to remove most of the skins. Crush the nuts directly in the towel using the flat side of a knife or the bottom of a small, heavy frying pan.
• Add the remaining 1/4 cup rice to a dry medium skillet and cook the rice over high heat, shaking the pan, until it begins to darken and about half of the kernels have popped, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Drizzle the boiled rice with the hazelnut oil and season to taste with salt. Divide among bowls and garnish with the popped rice, hazelnuts and chives.