Wild Rice and Veggie Salad
- At July 7, 2009
- By megan
- In cannellini beans, Maple, rainbow chard, rice, zucchini
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This started out as an experimental chilled salad, and turned out to be a delicious meal. Wild rice is the base, so cook one cup of wild or long grain brown rice (usually 1 cup rice to 2 cups water, boil, simmer 45-50 minutes). Remove the cooked rice from heat and let it sit a few minutes before transferring it to a large bowl.
The rest of the salad ingredients are:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups chopped rainbow chard, separate the stalky parts from the leafy
- 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed
- 1 zucchini
- 1 yellow squash
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 TB cider vinegar
- salt
- pepper
While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes or so, until soft. Add the garlic and cook another 3-4 minutes and remove from heat. Pour into a pyrex measuring cup because this will become the base for the dressing. Also, getting the onion and garlic out of the hot pan will help prevent it from continuing to cook in the hot pan.
Put the pan back on the stove and heat the stalky part of the chard for 3 minutes or so on medium high heat. Lower the temp to medium and add the leafy part. Cook until it is wilted. Add this to the large bowl (the one the cooked rice will eventually go in), but strain out the excess liquid first.
Slice the zucchini and squash into thick strips, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and throw on the grill for a few minutes until they are starting to soften but still maintain some crunch. Remove them from the grill and let them cool a few minutes. Then slice them further into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the large bowl.
Add the rinsed cannellini beans to the bowl and mix this well. Then, assemble the dressing.
Add the maple syrup and cider vinegar to the onion, garlic, and olive oil and mix well. Toss the rice, chard, zucchini, squash, and beans with the dressing. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with feta cheese and avocado to round out the dish.
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