"Homemade Wild Rice Salad" by Claiborne Beitz

            One of my all time favorite family recipes is my mother’s homemade wild rice salad. It has a unique blend of flavors that combine into one of the best rice dishes I have ever had. The dish itself is very colorful, appetizing, and will feed up to twelve people. Bringing it to a picnic, lunch, or dinner party will be sure to leave the guests amazed. The ingredients that will be needed to prepare this dish include:

●      2 cups of wild rice

●      4 cups of water

●      4 nectarines

●      3 cobs of fresh corn (preferably in season)

●      1 cup of chopped unsalted raw almonds

●      ½ cup of craisons

●      1 bunch of flat Italian parsley

●      1 large finely chopped red onion

The dressing will include

●      1 cup olive oil

●      ⅓ cup of sugar

●      ⅓ apple cider vinegar

●      A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds

             Now that you have all your ingredients bring out a large pot and bring your 4 cups of water to boil. Then add in your 2 cups of wild rice, letting it cook until about half the rice kernels have split. Strain the rice in a strainer and rinse under cool water. Set the rice aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

            The next step is the dressing which should be done ahead of time so it will be able to cool in the fridge. A quick way to prepare dressing is to put all the ingredients into a sealable container and shake until combined. My mother always uses a Mason jar mix it, but a separate bowl and whisk will do just fine. Add in the olive oil, sugar, and apple cider vinegar into the jar or bowl, and begin to combine the ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. Now mix in the toasted sesame seeds and put into the fridge to cool.

            With a sharp knife start by chopping the 4 nectarines into bite sized pieces and add to the now cool rice bowl. Next you will chop the corn away from the cob and put them in with the rice. Take your bundle of flat Italian parsley and chop it finely,  then add it to the rice. Next remove the peel of the red onion and chop it finely in order to add to the mix.  Now you can add in the 1 cup of pre-chopped raw almonds and ½ cup craisons to bowl. Finally, with all the ingredients incorporated, pour on the cold dressing and stir it all together.

            The dish is really simple to make and tastes amazing. It’s a dish that tastes best cold so making it ahead of time to store in the fridge will help the flavors fuse together. A great thing about this dish is how versatile it can become by adding different fruits or vegetables the taste can be changed to match any bodies cravings. If you want to add more protein cold, cubed chicken makes a great addition too. It can last in the fridge up to a week if you don’t eat it all by then!