Wild-Rice Pilaf...

You would think that with us living in Minnesota, we would prepare more dishes that included wild rice as an ingredient. In fact, the last time we used it was in that wicked good Chicken and Ham Wild Rice Soup back in '08. It's not that I don't keep it handy in the pantry, but for whatever reason, I just don't come across many recipes that call for it.

That bag we have caught my eye before I sat down to menu plan for the week and after giving myself a small guilt trip for not giving it any attention, I made sure to find a use for it. I gravitated to what was intended to be a side dish, but with some protein tossed in, this Wild-Rice Pilaf with Chicken, Cranberries and Pecans became our main tonight.

You could simmer the rice in a pan of water to get it cooked, but you'd then be starting with a fairly bland slate. With some simple additions though, you can hijack the rice and give it a running head start! We heated a slick of extra-virgin olive oil to get us going this evening, which we used to soften a couple spoonfuls of finely chopped shallot. When the pieces were translucent and tender, we added the intensely nutty rice and gingerly stirred it around, allowing the seeds (did you know wild rice is not technically a grain, but actually a seed?) contact with the heat to toast briefly. Instead of using water as the liquid, we poured in plenty of savory, gold-tinged chicken stock for the wild rice to drink up.

The maturity of the wild rice will determine how long it needs to cook - typically it will be done around 45 to 50 minutes, but sometimes it may need a few extra to soften enough. You'll be looking for the seeds to start bursting open from its black casing to tell you when its about ready. By the time the rice is ready, you may, but not always, have extra cooking liquid in the pot - don't be tempted to cook it until all of the liquid has been absorbed... just drain any any excess. To round out the dish, we stirred in cooked, shredded chicken, crunchy toasted pecans, tangy dried cranberries, golden raisins and for a bit of freshness, chopped parsley.

This can be served right away, which is how we had it, but it can also sit around and be just as tasty at room temperature. I found that out as I snuck a few extra spoonfuls when I went to portion the rest of the leftovers. If you wanted to forgo the shredded chicken to make a vegetarian-friendly side, all you would need to do is swap out the chicken stock for a high quality vegetable stock.

Recipes
Wild-Rice Pilaf with Chicken, Cranberries and Pecans