Wild Rice Salad

Posted on April 22, 2010 by kitchenbelle

When I made the Mushroom and Wild Rice Casserole I wasn’t thinking straight! The recipe called for about 2 cups of cooked wild rice but I didn’t account for the fact that rice nearly triples its size when cooked. I ended up with quite a bit of extra cooked wild rice in my fridge. Not a problem, though, because I LOVE WILD RICE!

There was no way I was going to waste the extra so I did some online searching for a quick and easy wild rice salad recipe and I was immediately drawn to this recipe on Simply Recipes.

Until Kelly mentioned it, I had no idea that Wild Rice is a “Minnesota thing.” When I served this salad to my family, my brother-in-law, who is also from Minnesota, was quite vocal about how much he loved this salad! He had no idea about my infatuation with wild rice and said if he had known, he would have asked his dad to bring some out with him this weekend. Unfortunately, his dad had already departed Minnesota so I won’t be tasting any authentic Minnesota wild rice any time soon!  Next time Ed! 🙂

In my opinion, the quality that makes this salad so great is the texture. There is quite a bit of satisfying crunch.

Remember to chop each component to uniform size so that each bite includes a little bit of each ingredient. You don’t want one bite to contain nothing but a giant chunk of celery and the next bite to contain a giant piece of green onion. (I talk more about the importance of chopping uniformly here.)

Each bite should contain a little bit of everything. Doing so allows for each bite to be a little dance party in your mouth!  The peas pop, the pine nuts snap, the celery crunches (and so on) and they are all united by the chewy grains of wild rice. Oh the fun! 🙂

Wild Rice Salad:

  • 2-3 cups cooked wild rice
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 4 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • 4-6 green onions (scallions), finely chopped
  • 1 cup frozen peas*
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/4 -1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1-2 teaspoons sugar

In a medium bowl combine rice, dried cranberries, celery, green onions, frozen peas, and pine nuts. Use a wooden spoon to gently combine.

In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss gently to evenly distribute dressing. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed.

*If you plan to serve this dish immediately, use thawed peas. If you are storing overnight in the fridge, frozen peas will defrost by the time you serve.

Adapted from this recipe found on Simply Recipes.

Filed under: Appetizer, gluten free, Main Dish, pine nuts, salad, Side, VEGETARIAN | 10 Comments »

Grilled Swordfish with Grilled Caponata

Posted on June 16, 2009 by kitchenbelle

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When the weather is hot and you don’t have central air conditioning, using the oven and the stove are not very appealing.  Even baking something for just a few minutes can turn the kitchen into a sauna.  That is when an outdoor grill can be really handy.  Some people reserve the grill for hot dogs and hamburgers on the weekends only, but there is no reason not to fire up the grill for a quick and healthy weeknight supper.

Unfortunately, the problem of warm weather has not been an issue in Boston.  The last couple of days have been downright cold.  For this dish I stayed in my comfortably warm kitchen and used our grill pan in place of the outdoor grill.  (The grill pan works really well for grilling pretty much everything.)   

Whether prepared indoors or outdoors, this dish is wonderful.  The flavorful chunky vegetables paired so nicely with the firm swordfish steaks.  For not using very many spices, the flavor factor of the caponata was off the charts.   Each bite contained different vegetables—you may get a piece of eggplant and a caper in one bite and then a tomato and olive in the next.  This meal was really satisfying and balanced.  And it is so simple to make!  The caponata is so versatile it could be served on its own as a side or with crackers as an appetizer. 

Grilled Swordfish with Grilled Caponata:

Caponata

  • 1 medium eggplant, sliced lengthwise
  • 1 large red onion, peeled and sliced into rings
  • 4-6 plum or roma tomatoes, halved
  • Olive oil, for brushing vegetables, plus 1/2 cup
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup green olives, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons capers, drained
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (optional)
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • Pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey

Heat grill on high.  Brush all vegetables with olive oil (or spray with cooking spray) and season with salt and pepper. Grill both sides of the eggplant slices until cooked through, about 8 minutes per side.  Grill both sides of the onion slices until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.  Grill the tomatoes (seed side down) until charred and soft, about 3 minutes.  Remove all vegetables from heat and cut into 1/2 inch chunks.  Put all vegetables into a bowl.  Add the olives, capers, and pine nuts to the bowl of vegetables and use a wooden spoon to toss to combine. 

In a small bowl combine the vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, and honey.  Season with salt and pepper.  Slowly whisk in about 1/2 cup of olive oil.*  Pour this dressing over vegetables and toss so that all are well-coated with dressing.  Let stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before serving.

Swordfish

  • 2-4 swordfish steaks
  • olive oil or cooking spray
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Caponata (see recipe above)

Heat grill to high.  Brush both sides of swordfish steaks with olive oil or coat with cooking spray.  Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Cook swordfish steaks until done, about 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness.  Remove from grill and top with grilled caponata. 

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*I actually didn’t use the 1/2 cup olive oil in the dressing and it was just fine without it.

Adapted from recipe by Bobby Flay on Foodnetwork.com.

Filed under: Appetizer, eggplant, fish, gluten free, Main Dish, olives, pine nuts, Side, tomato | 4 Comments »

Parmesan, Pine Nut, Panko and Parsley Baked White Fish

Posted on February 10, 2009 by kitchenbelle

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Let me first start by saying that it sends me bonkers when my photos of food turn out crumby!  Here is one of those instances where we were so hungry!  I made a quick attempt to make this pretty but then everything started to get cold.  And did I mention we were so hungry!  I actually almost didn’t post this just because the photo is so blah.  (And it is a photo of green fish so it wasn’t going to work for itself to begin with!)  Anyway, enough with the disclaimers!  I ultimately decided to share this recipe (despite the blah photo) because it is not only delicious, but also healthful.  And I have received several requests for easy weeknight suppers—I just couldn’t withhold this one from you on account of my bad photography!  It is so flavorful!

My sweetheart (along with just about everyone else) is fighting a cold so I wanted to make him a nutrient-rich dinner.  I love simple baked white fish, but I wanted to pack a little more punch!  This recipe does just that.  The coating for the fish is a combination of parmesan cheese, pine nuts, panko bread crumbs, garlic, and fresh parsley (which is why it is so green–don’t let that scare you).  The filets are dipped in egg white (pack a little protein!) then coated and then baked. Simple.  I served this with baked sweet potato and sauteed spinach with garlic.  Our plates were so colorful! 

Parmesan, Pine Nut, Panko and Parsley Baked White Fish:

  • 4 white fish filets
  • 1 cup panko bread crumbs + 2 tablespoons
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/3 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
  • 4 tablespoons fresh parsley
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/2 lemon (optional)
  • olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450 F.  Spray glass 9 x 13 dish with cooking spray.

Using your Magic Bullet or food processor, combine the bread crumbs, pine nuts, cheese, parsley, and garlic.  Pulse a few times until finely chopped.  Pour into a wide shallow bowl/dish. Set aside.

Pour the egg whites into another wide shallow bowl/dish. 

One by one, dip each filet in egg white and then dip in the parsley mixture.  Press to coat on all sides.  Place filet into prepared glass baking dish.   Sprinkle each filet with plain panko breadcrumbs.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice over each.  Quickly and lightly spray each filet with one short pump of olive oil cooking spray.    

Bake for about 12 minutes, or until fish is flaky and opaque.  (You can crisp up the tops by placing the dish under the broiler for a few minutes. This will deepen the color of the bread crumbs and give the fish a crispier texture.)

Adapted from The Dallas Morning News.

Filed under: fish, lemon, Main Dish, pine nuts | Leave a comment »