Recipe: Wild Rice Pilaf

[emily]

After reading the garlicy brown rice recipe today I came home and played around with some ingredients that I had laying around and ended up with a wonderful side dish, so I thought I'd share.

Wild Rice with Toasted Macademia Nuts

2 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup brown rice, wild rice mix (I got mine in the bulk bin at WF)
4 garlic cloves minced
1 can chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts, heaping
1 T butter, melted
2 t chopped fresh oregano, stems reserved
1/2 t chopped fresh rosemary, stems reserved
pinch kosher salt

Heat oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add rice; sauté 1 minute. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, reserved stems and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

Meanwhile, toss macadamia nuts with butter, herbs and salt. Toast in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Cook rice until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 45 minutes to an hour. Stir in toasted nuts and voilà your tasty side is ready! I served this with the fish with herbs and lime (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38852) that Julie posted on this thread as well as some sugar snap peas. Tasty!

Hope y'all enjoy,

Emily

[Gracie]

Emily - I also bought the brown rice/wild rice mix at the bulk bin at WF. I made it plain at first because I like plain boiled Chinese rice, but it was awful that way. I love wild rice and want to start using more brown rice, so I was really disappointed.

I posted a thread (http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38203&highlight=wild+rice) about this before and got a couple of ideas, and I will definitely add yours on my to-try list since I still have some left.

Loren

[emily]

No problemo, Loren. I made it plain first too and hated it. But I've been on a quest to use grains (and everything else) in my pantry. Thanks for the other link! I still have at least 2 cups left to play with :)

Emily

[aggie94]

I know Emily's away at camp, but I still wanted to bump this up to say what a great recipe this is!

I needed a last minute side dish for supper club last night. I used the rice blend I had in the cabinet, which was a mix of white, brown and wild rices, and subbed slivered almonds for the macadamia nuts. I also added about a teaspoon of salt with the rice, as I was using unsalted homemade chicken stock. I did adjust the rice:stock proportion according to the directions on the package of rice, using 2 1/2 cups of rice to 4 cups of stock, and doubling the rest of the ingredients. Folks at dinner raved about the rice - the toasted nuts really make this dish.

Great recipe, Em!