This is something I came up with to use up tidbits from the recent festivities.
Wild rice is not everyone’s thing and that’s okay. If you find this to be too much texture for your tastes, you can add a in a cup or two of cooked rice or a cup of cooked rice and a cup of quinoa and make a pilaf. You can use different mushrooms or a mix. You can use one cup of pecans if you don’t have chestnuts. Don't have all the herbs? That's cool. Use what you have. Play around and adjust to your liking. If you want to make this vegan, omit the ghee and top with nutritional yeast instead of queso fresco. This yields enough for two main meals or four sides.
Herbed Wild Rice with Shiitakes, Pecans, Chestnuts & Queso Fresco
Ingredients:
- 8 oz wild rice
- 4 cups of water or vegetable broth
- 1 lb shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tbsp each of finely chopped sage, savory, thyme, rosemary
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup chopped chestnuts
- Olive oil
- 1 tbsp of ghee or butter
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Sea salt or kosher salt
- Generous pinch of garlic powder
- Optional: Queso fresco or nutritional yeast
Directions:
Prep the mushrooms. Clean with slightly damp kitchen towels or paper towels. Slice off stems and then roughly chop and set aside. Then, slice most of the mushrooms and leave some whole, and set them aside. I like to slice most of them and leave some whole because it’s a nice flavor contrast and visually appealing when plated up. Chop nuts and herbs and set them aside.
Boil the rice in 4 cups of veggie broth or water and the chopped mushroom stems. About 45 minutes to an hour.
Sautee shiitakes in olive oil at a medium heat. After they are soft and browned, lower the temperature and add ghee or butter, let it melt, and then add the herbs and garlic powder, plus salt and cracked pepper to taste. When the herbs are softened and the mushrooms are infused, about a minute, stir in the chopped nuts. Take it off the heat, set aside, and cover.
After the rice is cooked, when it is soft but not mushy and has opened up a bit, drain the rice. You can reserve the liquid for another use. I add barley and white miso to it and make a “beef broth” for French onion soup.
Toss the herbed mushrooms and nuts with the rice. Add more olive oil if needed. If you're feeling extra, top with queso fresco or nutritional yeast.
Enjoy!
And thank you to feedfeed and GrowNYC for featuring this recipe.