Minnesota Wild Rice — Housewife's Whimsy

I had some wild rice left over this week when I made wild rice soup, so I decided to see what other type of side dish I could put it in. Since we also have an abundance of kale on hand I decided to see if I could combine them both. I found an excellent looking recipe from Iowa Girl Eats that combined all the basic ingredients. I didn’t have some of what she called for on hand so I adapted the recipe to fit our tastes and what I had in the kitchen. We also tried the dressing on the original recipe but it didn’t really fit with what we enjoy.This is a nice light side dish that will go along with just about anything you might want to serve it with. It is a nice combination of sweet and savory. If you prefer you could substitute honey for the brown sugar, the combination simply gives you a more complex flavor combination.

Kale and Wild Rice Salad4 Cups Kale2 Medium Red Potatoes, Chopped2 Sweet Peppers, Chopped½ Medium Onion, Chopped1.5 Cups Wild Rice, Cooked2 Tablespoons Butter2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar1 Tablespoon HoneyWhite PepperSea SaltWash the kale thoroughly, and cook the wild rice.

Put the kale in a large skillet and cover with water. Boil for 4-5 minutes until the kale is soft. When the kale is cool enough to handle squeeze the excess water, crumble, and set aside.

Melt the butter in the skillet, add the chopped potatoes, onion, sweet peppers, honey and brown sugar.

Cook until the potatoes are soft and the onions translucent.

Add the wild rice and kale, cook until warmed through.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

This soup is a monthly winter staple at our house. When we lived in Minnesota we were introduced to this native dish. It is great with a fresh crusty bread. When I was searching for a recipe to make this most had a base of cream of something soup. This recipe is completely from scratch however. This provides you with a superior flavor and texture.My favorite Minnesota rice is this one from the Red Lake Nation. When we lived in Minnesota it was readily available at the grocery stores, but since we moved I either order it or wait until we go back to pick some up.I have always made this with plain Minnesota harvested wild rice. I’ve never tried the quick cooking or something like Uncle Ben’s. I imagine this wouldn’t change the consistency much, it would just shorten the cooking time substantially. Just remember to make the rice before you start the soup. It takes so long to cook you won’t have enough time. I typically make extra chicken in the crop pot when we have tacos and then freeze some of the shredded chicken. This helps when cooking this meal because then you just need to defrost and add the chicken.

Creamy Chicken and Minnesota Wild Rice Soup½ Cup Wild Rice (Prepared)2 Tablespoons ButterChopped OnionChopped CarrotChopped Celery4 Tablespoons Flour32oz Chicken Broth1 Cup Cream2 Large Cooked Chicken Breasted Shredded or ChunkedThyme, Pepper and Salt to taste