An underutilized grain...

I've had an unopened package of wild rice in the pantry for what seems like forever... I bought it for a specific recipe awhile ago and never ended up making it. I notice it every time I'm browsing the pantry to see what we need at the market, but I guess I just don't see it called for often enough or I forget to specifically look for a recipe that uses the dark grain. When I was menu planning this past weekend, I finally buckled down and found this Wild Rice and Summer Succotash Salad to make.

You could stretch this into 6 servings if you want to use it as a light side, but we portioned it out into 4 for a main dish. Since you need to wait around as the wild rice takes a good 40 to 45 minutes to cook, you are left with plenty of downtime to get the rest of the prep work for the dish done. A piquant combination of red wine vinegar, fresh parsley, Dijon mustard, fresh basil, green onions, fresh thyme, garlic and olive oil coats this salad with a fiercely tangy dressing. I changed a couple of the mix-ins around in the salad - it originally called for green beans and frozen lima beans, but I used fresh green peas and some edamame we already had in the freezer. The rest of the salad gets a bit of crunch from diced red bell peppers, celery and red onion with vibrant plum tomatoes lending a spark of color. Served on a bed of crisp romaine lettuce with a smattering of toasted almonds on top, the wild rice brings a delicious toothsome texture with a rich nutty flavor. This dish reminded me just how much I like this grain and I will have to keep my eye out for more ways to use the rest of my stash up.

Recipes
Wild Rice and Summer Succotash Salad