Wild rice and walnut salad

Once again, my Green's Cookbook by Deborah Madison delivered big time!  I've yet to find a disappointing recipe in it, and regard it as my  most reliable resource when I want to prepare a meal that tastes good.     My grand plan is to make every recipe in the book, in part because I'm curious to see if there's actually a bad recipe in the book.  I think not.  One recipe I've always wanted to try is Wild Rice And Hazelnut Salad. It calls for hazelnut oil and hazelnuts, which I couldn't find at my grocery store. Apparently, they stock them at Christmas, but not the rest of the year.  People only want hazelnuts on holidays? I don't think so.  I substituted walnuts and walnut oil, and it was delicious. But, I want to try it with hazelnuts someday.

I always enjoy the salads served at the Greens restaurant in San Francisco. In particular, I'm always impressed with the salad dressings.  The citrus vinaigrette for this recipe was filled with orange zest, lemon and orange juice, and lots of herbs and scallions. It was a perfect match for the slightly sweet taste of the salad. 
I'm impressed with the way Deborah Madison meets the challenge of preparing vegetarian meals that appeal to people, no matter if they eat meat or not.  She is a master at combining different flavors and textures into memorable recipes. Here the chewy rice, crisp apples and fennel, along with the crunch of the nuts was truly wonderful. And the salad looked beautiful. It's very resilient, and could last hours without wilting.  It's always a pleasure to eat something like this--and to hear the appreciation expressed for it from others.  I'm gushing, I know. But, this dish was gush-worthy.

Wild Rice and Walnut Salad (Adapted from The Greens Cookbook, Deborah Madison, with Edward Espe Brown)

Note: the walnuts can be replaced with hazelnuts

3/4 cup wild rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons currents or golden raisins
Juice of one large orange
Citrus vinaigrette with Hazelnut or walnut oil (see below)
1 small fennel bulb, cut into small squares
1 crisp apple

Rinse the wild rice, and soak it in cold water for 1/2 hour, then drain.  Add 4 cups fresh water, the salt, and bring to a boil.  Cook, covered, at a simmer until the grains are swollen and tender, but still chewy. Drain rice into a colander and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  While rice is cooking toast the walnuts in the oven for about 7-10 minutes or until the nuts smell toasty.  Remove from oven and set aside.

Rinse the currents or raisins in hot water and squeeze dry.   Place in the orange juice and set aside.

Prepare vinaigrette.

Add the soaked raisins or currents and the fennel to the warm rice and toss with the dressing.  Just before serving, cut the apple up in small pieces, add to the salad, along with the walnuts and toss.  Season with black pepper and salt, if needed.

Citrus Vinaigrette

Grated peel of one large orange
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice (you can use the juice the raisins soaked in)
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1.2 teaspoon salt
3 scallions, while part only, sliced
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed with a motor or back of a spoon
5 tablespoons live oil
1 tablespoon walnut oil (or hazelnut oil)
1 tablespoon chives, sliced
1 tablespoon fennel leaves
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped

Put the orange peel, orange juice, lemon juice, and vinegar in a bowl with the salt, scallions, and crushed fennel seeds. Whisk in the oils, then the herbs.  Taste and adjust any of the ingredients if necessary. The dressing should be fresh and sparkly.

Comments

[Alanna]

Love the fennel crunch this'd have ...

[sher]

Alanna,

The fennel was great in this salad, and the dressing had crushed fennel seeds too--so the faint anise taste was there.

[Shannon]

Argh, I'm so hungry for this and yet so not hungry at all, due to a bad head cold. No energy for cooking either. I'll have to bookmark this for later. SIGH.

[sher]

Oh Shannon, I'm so sorry you have a cold. I've been hearing from people all over the coutry about a fast moving head cold and am preying that I don't get it!!! Soup is the thing for you!!! And rest.

Sher