The wild rice salad with low loads, which everyone wants in Minnesota Potlucks

As the daughter of a Minnesotan and Michiganders, I grew up on wild rice. On the one hand, the long -grained swamp grass (technically no rice) is a staple in the middle west, which was originally harvested by American indigenous people from streams, streams and flat lakes in the region and plays a central role in regional cuisine. When I grew up, my great -grandchildren Esther’s Wild rice and mushroom side dish Always had a place at the table. And with my friends and my family in the middle west to chat, know and love most wild rice in a warm and earthy format. My mother’s favorite uprising was a hot chicken rice -Hotdish with a clever strain on mayonnaise, acidic cream and parmesan cheese. My aunt and cousins always used it in nutritious soups.

Only later did my mother discover a cool (literally) rotation when serving wild rice. On one of our summer trips to visit the family on Lake Minnetonka, my mother found a cold wild -free salad “The perfect summer side dish”, she recalls in the Deli case of the beloved supermarket of Minnesota, Lunds & Byylys.

Why didn’t my family think about it earlier? Wild rice is versatile and is versatile and is well suited for salads. The grain is not sticky and does not clump, so it can easily be mixed with other ingredients. It is also voluminous (four -time manufacture when cooking!), Which helps to throw together a salad.

“It is only smoky and earthy and how you consume it feels like a grain, but it’s very easy, you know,” says Minnesotan Amy Thielen, author and host of “Ham radio: cook with Amy Thielen“Cook show and podcast.” And it is a great canvas for salads. ”

In Thielen’s 2013 cookbook The new table in the middle westPresent It shows warm wild rice dishes such as Chestnut wild rice and pistacial dressing. But Thielen is not a stranger for the cold wild -free salad. She likes to remember the pots of her childhood with chicken, dried cranberries and apricots, almonds, celery and green onion that were dressed in a hint of curry in a vinaigrette. “This type of salad that you make ahead and relax and are ready to go is definitely the mood here in Minnesota,” she says.

I wondered how much these wild rice salads were actually. I checked out with the Lunds and Byylys Deli counter and discovered more variations, especially after the season. I found a wild rice salad for the summer time with lush oranges and sour blueberries (recipe below), one with cranberries and pumpkin for autumn and even a hearty wild rice chicken salad.

That was the tip of the Wildreis -Eisberg Pot-Luck for 33,000: Recipes for the Great Dayton, Hudsons and Marshall Fields Cookoff And The best of byylys: a recipe collection from the test kitchen of Byyly’s home economistsI found all kinds of wonderful salads in the middle west with our hero of the hometown.

I found one with shrimps and cross -flowers with a mixture of hidden Valley Ranch, Mayo, lemon juice and Hamburg relish. Another was a turn on the Waldorf saladCombine the grain with the usual suspects – Pineasaple, apples, celery and walnuts. Another equipped and chilled pork deck with grapes, pineapple, mushrooms and onions, served with a dressing made of oil, vinegar and honey. Which salad could not Wild rice his star from?

Every salad seemed the more I saw. From a wild rice advertising record: a wild rice salad with cooked peas, cherry tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts and a mixture of reserved artichoke fluid, sherry and sugar. And get that: in The ultimate game and fish cookbook: more than 400 recipes for all their wild premiumA wild rice salad equipped with Mayo, sour cream, yellow mustard and Worcestershire -Sauce; Thrown with pineapple, cashew nuts and water chestnuts; and paired with stripes with medium moose. Now that is and Minnesota salad.

No matter that my family was a little late to the Wild Rice Salad game in Midwest. I’m all in it now. So if you think about what you serve at your next garden grill or bring your picnic in the neighborhood, you should look at this incredibly versatile grain. This summer, Wild Rice Salad is definitely on the menu.

BlueBerry Wildreissalat

With the kind permission of Lunds & Byylys

Portions: 6-8
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour

Pro-tip: Make the wild rice in advance and let it cool in the fridge and ready. (A cup of uncooked wild rice results in 3 to 4 cups of cooked rice that you need for this recipe.) If it is the party time, just throw all the ingredients together.

Note of the writer: Black Paddy’s wild rice, which can be found in grocery stores, needs 45-60 minutes. Naturally occurring green wild rice, which you can buy through Indian tribes like the Ojibwe from Wild Earth Wildreistakes about 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of wild rice
• 1 teaspoon of salt and more to taste
• 4 cups of water
• 1 bundle of green onions, cut
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 11-Irzen dose of mandarin-orange, well drained
• 3/4 cup of L&B Asia roasted sesame association
• 1/2 teaspoon of orange peel
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup of roasted almonds

Directions

1. Combine the wild rice, salt and water in a saucepan. Bring to cook, reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the grains are open and tender, but not mushy, 45 to 55 minutes. Drain, rinse the cold water and drain again.
2. Combine wild rice, onions, blueberries and oranges in a large mixed bowl.
3. Mix the dressing and orange peel together in a small bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the rice mixture and stir to coat it. Taste with salt and pepper. Mix almonds shortly before serving.