Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries, Apricots and Pecans

I developed this recipe with the holidays in mind. It's delicious and festive, much of it can be prepared ahead, and it's best served at room temperature. It's also a great choice if you need a gluten-free holiday side dish. The salad is an equal mix of white and wild rice, bejeweled with dried fruits, toasted pecans and a generous amount of caramelized onions, all tossed in a citrus shallot vinaigrette.

I tried a new technique to caramelize the onions for this salad. Actually it's an old technique that my grandmother used that I recently learned about from my Aunt. My Grandmother Fay owned a kosher hotel in the Catskill mountains called Sunny Oaks. The Sunny Oaks kitchen had several large deep industrial ovens which were always roaring away, roasting chickens or briskets, baking kugels or stuffed cabbage rolls. What I learned from my aunt is that my grandmother was perpetually caramelizing onions in those ovens. She always had big trays of sliced onions and oil tucked into the back of the ovens, behind the chickens and kugels, so she could enjoy a steady supply of sweet caramelized onions to make chopped liver or whatever else she needed them for. She also loved to cook with the delicious onion-flavored oil that resulted.

I didn't include this technique in the recipe but if you'd like to try it: slice two onions. Put them in a baking pan with 1 cup of olive oil. Cook at 350ºF for 2 ½ hours, stirring every half hour. Store the onion-flavored oil in a covered jar in the fridge and use it to cook eggs or to make a stir-fry or anything else that would benefit from the caramelized onion flavor.

I'm not sure if I'll be posting another recipe until after Thanksgiving. Two of my sons are flying home for the holiday. I'm hosting this year and so far the only thing I've done to prepare is order the turkey. So if we don't connect before next Thursday I wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

In the meantime, here are a few recipes you might want to save for your Thanksgiving leftovers:

• My absolute favorite Curried Chicken Turkey Salad
• Delicious Turkey Soup with Turkey Kreplach (dumplings)

Here's the Wild Rice Salad Recipe. If you cook this, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I'd love to know what you think.

Recipe

Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries Apricots and Pecans

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5 from 3 reviews

• Author: Lisa
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 8-10 1x

Print Recipe

Description

This wild rice salad is a fantastic side dish for Thanksgiving and the Winter Holidays. Easy to make ahead of time and filled with delicious seasonal ingredients - wild rice, dried fruits and toasted pecans, dressed in a bright orange shallot vinaigrette.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the Rice:

• 1 cup (½ pound) raw wild rice, rinsed
• 1 cup (½ pound) raw long grain white rice such as basmati, rinsed
• Kosher salt

For the Caramelized Onions:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 yellow onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced (⅛-inch)

For the Cranberries:

• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup orange juice

For The Vinaigrette:

• ½ cup good quality olive oil
• 1 orange, zested and juiced (¼ cup orange juice, 1 teaspoon zest)
• 3 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (or substitute sherry vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons honey
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Remaining salad ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups pecan halves, toasted (see notes)
• ¾ cup dried apricots, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup chopped parsley leaves

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Instructions

Rice: 

1. Cook the wild rice with ½ teaspoon salt, per package instructions. Remove from heat and set aside, uncovered, to cool. (See notes)
2. Cook the white rice with ½ teaspoon salt, per package instructions. Spread white rice out in the bottom of a large bowl or on a rimmed baking sheet, to cool.

Caramelized Onions 

1. While the rice cooks, heat butter and oil in a large skillet over low heat. Simmer onions, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until they're soft and caramelized. Pour in a tablespoon or two of water and stir with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan. Set aside to cool. (See notes)

Cranberries:

1. Bring 1 cup orange juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in dried cranberries in and let them soak for 30 minutes.
2. Drain the cranberries and set them aside. You won't need the remaining orange juice for this recipe.

Vinaigrette: 

1. In a small bowl whisk ¼ cup fresh orange juice, 1 teaspoon orange zest, vinegar, shallots, mustard and honey. Slowly add olive oil while whisking, to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper.

Serving:

1. In a serving bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients: white rice, wild rice, caramelized onions, cranberries, pecans, apricots and parsley. 
2. Pour dressing over and toss well, to combine. For best flavor, dress the salad an hour before serving and serve at room temperature. (see notes for make-ahead strategy)

Notes

1. Basic Wild Rice cooking instructions: boil 2 ¼ cups water with ½ teaspoon salt in a medium pot. Add wild rice, lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes or until rice is tender and starting to pop open. 
2. To toast pecans, add them to a dry pan over medium heat and toast, tossing frequently until they darken and become fragrant. Watch carefully so they don't burn.
3. To Caramelize onions in the oven, put sliced onions in a small 12 x 12 inch baking pan with 1 cup of olive oil. Cook at 350ºF for 2 ½ hours, stirring every half hour. Drain through a small mesh strainer with a bowl underneath, and store the onion-flavored oil in a covered jar in the fridge and use it to cook eggs or to make a stir-fry or anything else that would benefit from the caramelized onion flavor.
4.  Make ahead strategy: You can prepare and assemble the whole salad a day ahead but wait to dress it until an hour before serving. Store it in the fridge in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap. The vinaigrette can also be prepared a day ahead and kept, covered, in the fridge overnight. For best flavor, leave the dressed salad at room temperature for an hour, before serving.

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: stovetop
• Cuisine: American