Wild rice and winter squash salad

My sister has a horse and a pony. I don’t envy her the horse-riding (she hardly ever has time for that anyway). I envy her all that manure. The manure that she composted, then spread out a little, and planted winter squashes in. And they grew like crazy and produced countless fruits. Squashes and pumpkins are both hungry crops that appreciate overfeeding.
My pumpkins and squashes did not do as well (once again). They were manured all right, but the summer here was not so summery and that resulted in poor fruit setting. Spaghetti squash was the least affected and we picked a fair number of those, though they were a little undersized. We store them in our unheated bedroom, where they stay in good condition for months.
I also got a few of my sister’s squashes, because her extremely picky family does not appreciate squash.
We do. We eat it weekly throughout the winter. We make winter squash soup, winter squash tarts and recently I have taken to making this salad. A very pretty and colorful salad with an interesting combination of flavours. Bright flavors – something that is especially appreciated in winter.
I find that butternut squash keeps its shape a little better when roasted, but sometimes I use other kinds of squash or a combination.

One year ago: Brussel sprouts with wild rice and walnuts (I posted a recipe with wild rice exactly a year ago too – how strange is that?)

Wild rice and winter squash salad
serves 4
1 butternut squash (about 1 kg / 2 pounds)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
200 g wild rice
½ red onion, chopped
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
70 g (1/2 cup) roughly chopped pecans
50 g (1/3 cup) dried cranberries
1 bunch (about 1 cup) flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
salt, black pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 F).
Peel the squash and remove seeds. Cut the squash into 1,5 – 2 cm (½ – ¾ inch) cubes. Toss the squash with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp salt. Spread the squash in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until done, about 20 minutes, turning the squash cubes once in between.
While the squash is baking, boil the rice. In a medium pan, bring water to boil, add rinsed rice and salt. Boil until done, about 20 to 25 minutes. In a small bowl, mix onion and vinegar and let stand for at least 10 minutes to remove the sharpness.
In a large bowl, mix rice with the 2 remaining tablespoons of olive oil. Add squash, onion, cranberries, pecans and parsley, toss everything gently together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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