Wild Rice with Leeks and Dandelion Greens

Found at Whole Foods: Local eggs from pastured hens at Campo Lindo Farms (for about half the price of the local pastured eggs we get in California...score another one for Kansas)*
Found at Natural Grocers: More leeks, beautiful local dandelion greens

A few judicious tweaks, and an old simple standby got a trendy new makeover:

 

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 medium-small leek, white and light green parts, chopped

4 cloves garlic, smashed

1 rounded cup wild rice

1 3/4 cups chicken broth

1 bunch dandelion greens, sliced crosswise into 1/4 inch strips

2-3 handfuls baby spinach

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

2 eggs from pastured hens

Heat a glug of olive oil in a smallish pot over medium heat. Add half of the leek and 3 of the smashed garlic cloves and saute until they soften and the leek turns slightly translucent. Add the wild rice and stir to coat the grains, then pour in the chicken broth. Cover to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes (if there's a little extra liquid at the end, you can uncover the pot and raise the heat back up to medium for a minute or two to let it evaporate).

Meanwhile, bring a second pot of water to a boil for the eggs, but wait to cook them until a few minutes before the rice is done (you can either poach them, if you're adventurous like that, or boil them for 7 minutes or until desired doneness...7 minutes will get you a medium-boiled egg with the white fully cooked and the yolk still runny on an average-sized egg).

When the rice is done or almost done, heat a wide saute pan over medium heat. Drizzle the pan with a little olive oil, then add the rest of the leeks and the remaining garlic clove. Saute until very soft, then add the dandelion greens and toss to coat. Saute, stirring occasionally, for a couple minutes until the greens wilt. Sprinkle with salt, stir, and cover to steam for a minute more. Uncover, add the spinach, and turn off the heat. Add the fully cooked rice, and fold everything together.

Serve in bowls. Top with an egg, sliced in half if you'd like, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serves 2.

*On the other hand, Whole Foods had only $6 dandelion greens imported from California...which cannot possibly be necessary for growing weeds...and Natural Grocers had nothing resembling pastured eggs. So our co-op still wins for convenience...

Conquering the Cauliflower, Phase III: Leftovers

Lunch in less than ten minutes. Or rather, a gourmet, local, whole foods lunch in less than ten minutes. Can't really beat that.

Step 1: Make this recipe, alongside some fish or chicken or whatever over wild rice (if you make about a cup of wild rice, you can use two-thirds of it for a two-person dinner and save the last third for this recipe).

Step 2: Gleefully remove leftovers from fridge the next day, and make this:

Ingredients
About 2 cups leftover roasted cauliflower
Three big handfuls spinach leaves
1 cup leftover cooked wild rice
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Throw the spinach into a pot, cover, set over medium heat, and cook until the leaves just start to wilt from the steam (or zap in the microwave for about 30 seconds).

Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper together to form an emulsion. Toss with the wilted spinach till the leaves are evenly coated, then add the wild rice and mix well.

Reheat the cauliflower in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes on high or until warm but not scalding. Serve over a bed of the spinach-wild rice mixture.

Serves two for a quick and easy and amazingly delicious lunch.

Wild Rice and Greens

This is one of those random, I-don't-want-to-go-to-the-store dishes that's easy, flexible, and makes you wonder why you ever bother making anything complicated if throwing together random things from the cupboard can taste so good.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1-2 spring onions, sliced (or sub a large shallot, sliced)
2 large cloves garlic, smashed
1 rounded cup wild rice
Just under 2 cups chicken broth
1/2 can chickpeas, rinsed

Several big handfuls mixed greens, cut crosswise into wide strips (baby mustard, spinach, and/or mystery leafy green from your CSA box)*
Salt and black pepper
2 eggs, poached or medium-boiled (7-8 minutes)

Heat a glug of olive oil in a smallish pot over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is soft and the garlic lightly golden. Add the wild rice and saute in the onion-garlic mixture for a minute or two, then stir in the chicken broth. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 45 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, adding the chickpeas about halfway through (if there's a little extra liquid at the end, you can uncover the pot and raise the heat back up to medium for a minute or two, stirring occasionally, to let it evaporate).

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil for the eggs, but wait to cook them until a few minutes before the rice is done.

When the rice is done or almost done, heat a wide saute pan over medium heat. Drizzle the pan with a little olive oil, then throw in the greens and toss to coat with olive oil. Add a pinch or two of salt, cover the pan for a minute to let the greens begin to wilt, then stir again. When the greens are tender (a minute or two for baby greens so that they've just wilted; longer for bigger greens), turn off the heat, add the fully cooked rice, and stir to combine evenly. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve in bowls and top with an egg sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper.

Serves 2.

Note: Use two spring onions if they're still smallish (like the ones to the right), but you probably just need one if they've reached their bigger, more bulbous stage (like the ones pictured in this post).

*Variation on a theme: Take out the mixed greens and substitute 2-3 cups chopped broccolini and spinach and a couple handfuls of shiitakes, sliced. Saute the broccolini, cover to let steam for a few minutes, then uncover, add the mushrooms, a pinch of salt, and a bit more olive oil, and saute until cooked through.

Wild Rice, Asian Pear, and Blue Cheese Salad

Ingredients
1/2 cup wild rice
Mixed baby greens or baby arugula
A handful of pecans, toasted
Some Bleu d'Auvergne or your favorite blue cheese, crumbled
1-2 Asian pears (or substitute Bosc pears), sliced and cut into 1-inch squares
Olive oil

Sherry vinegar
Salt & black pepper

Heat a little olive oil in a small pot over medium heat. Add the wild rice, stir for a minute or two, then add 1 cup of water. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until cooked.

Toss the greens with some olive oil in a salad bowl. If you're using arugula, add the rice over it while it's hot so that the greens wilt just a little bit (otherwise, add it after it's cooled a little). Toss with a little sherry vinegar, salt, and pepper, then top with the Asian pears, pecans, and blue cheese.

Wild Rice and Tomato Salad

We made homegrown chickpeas the other night to revisit this recipe (which was fortunately just as delicious the second time, or I would have had to sorrowfully revoke its title), and had a few left over in the fridge, along with some wild rice and the lemon basil from our CSA box last week. And a basket of grape tomatoes. Clearly, the thing to do was to throw them all in a bowl and eat them. We didn't particularly expect it to be good enough to make again, but we would...if you have leftover chickpeas and wild rice (or probably even brown rice) on hand, this is very fast to make, and was surprisingly addictive. You could also add a little cucumber for crunch.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1/2 onion, cut into wedges and sliced into thin, 1-inch strips
1 clove garlic, pressed
A basket of ripe grape tomatoes, cut lengthwise into quarters
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice
About 10 lemon basil leaves, chiffonade
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little goat cheese or feta

Saute the onion in a little olive oil over medium-high heat until it starts to turn golden. Add the garlic and a little more olive oil if necessary, turn the heat down to medium-low, and saute for another minute or so. Turn off the heat and set aside.

Combine the chickpeas and tomatoes in a salad bowl. In a separate, small bowl, whisk together a few glugs of olive oil and about a third as much balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper, then pour about two-thirds of the dressing over the chickpeas and tomatoes, and stir to coat evenly. Add the wild rice, pour in the rest of the dressing, and stir again. Add about half of the basil chiffonade and the onion-garlic mixture, stir, and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Crumble a little cheese over the top and sprinkle with the remaining basil before serving.

Serves 2 (it's lighter than it looks, so you'll want something else with it).