That is so thoughtful of Teresa and lucky you.

That Teresa is one generous lady! I got some too yesterday! She's really spreading the wealth. Not sure what all I'm going to make with ours but Christy and I are really looking forward to it. I do think some of that bread is calling my name though.

Congratulations Linda and thanks Teresa. Yayyy for wild rice and a great addition to the forum.

That is so thoughtful Teresa!

I don't know much about wild rice. Is it hard to find? I guess I have never cooked it. I bet it's good for you isn't it? I buy brown long grain rice but I have never looked for wild rice.

Does wild rice have a different taste from brown rice?

Karen

Having done a little research on wild rice back in the day . . . it's not "rice" per se, it comes from a different kind of grass plant. It has a shape like rice (but so do a lot of seeds from the grass family) hence the name. It takes longer to cook even than brown rice. It was once harvested "wild" from vast wetland areas in Minnesota. It also used to grow in vast wetland areas around the Potomac River. One of the things we lost when we over developed that area. Now it is grown commercially in MN but the commercial variety is a hybrid bred for ease of mass, petroleum-based cultivation characteristics. It does not have the same consistencey as "wild rice" grown and harvested in the traditional way. But it is a HECK of a lot cheaper. Commercial wild rice is grown in paddies, "real" wild rice is grown in natural wetlands and has to be harvested by canoe or wading.

I love wild rice. I mix it with brown rice, to stretch the dollar. It also tones down the assertive taste of wild rice. It has a great taste, it's kind of nutty/earthy, super yum! Makes me long for the North Country!! We may not have oranges, but we've got our wild rice and maple syrup! Oh, and cranberries, which BTW, if you put them all together with some scallions (or the inner pith of a cattail) and a pinch of thyme or rosemary, makes a mighty fine pilaf. Top with toasted wild hickory nuts, lol!

Link below to an interesting article on the rice. LOVE the cooking instructions:
"A favorite joke among most conossieurs of real wild rice illustrates this point. "How to Cook Paddy Rice: Put rice and water in a pot with a stone. When the stone is soft the rice is almost done".

Here is a link that might be useful: Save Wild Rice

Just in time for wild rice turkey stuffing! And I'm sure there's enough to make wild rice soup, yum.

This is one of my all time favourit recipes. Over the years it has been served many a time at dinner parties. Boning out the game bird makes for easy serving.

I haven't made this in a while so it might be on the menu soon.

Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice Stuffing
=========================================

Stuffing

1-1/2 cups wild rice cooked
1 small onion finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons oil
2 cloves garlic
Pinch tarragon
2 tablespoons finely
Choped parsley
1-1/2 dozen mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper

Sauce

Pan drippings
3 ounces medium-dry sherry or ruby port
1 tablespoon red currant jam or jelly
2 cups chicken stock

Roux:
2 tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons
Flour Salt and Pepper

Bone the hens by removing rib cage and back of each bird. With pointed knife, cut slit down backbone. Work to free flesh from ribs. Free carcass from wing, leg sockets and neck so you can lift it right out leaving meat behind. With string or unwaxed dental floss sew up the orginal opening of the bird.

Make Stock using the carcas. In a small saucepan, saute
Onions in a small nut of butter. Add thyme, garlic, parsley and bay leaf. Saute a few minutes and add chicken and hen bones. Continue sauteing. Add about 2 1/2 cups of water or chicken stock salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer about 60 minutes. Strain.

Prepare stuffing by melting butter in a small amount of oil. Saute chopped onion, add garlic, tarragon, salt and pepper, chopped parsley and mushrooms. When flavours are fully blended (about 3 minutes) add wild rice and mix well. Adjust seasoning. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Divide stuffing into 3 equal parts and stuff each bird. Sew up
Using dental floss.

Roast birds in a 375ðF until done, about 45 minutes.

Remove birds from pan.

Make a roux with the pan drippings, butter and flour. Add the chicken broth and simmer. Add the sherry or port and the currant jelly. Simmer to meld the flavours.

To serve, Remove the dental floss or string and cut each bird in half.

"It is so nice to find a package in the mailbox from a fellow CFer! (Restores my faith in the group, if you will.)"

I second that, Linda!

Personally, I didn't find it took all THAT long to cook.
Nor did we find the flavor too "assertive".
We thoroughly enjoyed the "kind of nutty/earthy, super yum!" flavor.
Totally agree with you on that, lpink.

Here is a website I found interesting.
There are some really good sounding "to try" recipes there, too.

Rusty

Here is a link that might be useful: Minnesota Wild Rice

Wild rice is probably my favourite food. I am a plain girl so I like it cooked with chicken broth and nothing else. I don't have it as often as I would like because by the time I am preparing dinner it's too late to throw it on the stove. I do this with a lot of things:(. Enjoy. BTW, I usually keep a couple of pounds in the house at any given time. At curling one night, we were talking of regional foods and I brought up wild rice and no one heard of it. After the teasing of working on the rice paddy I told another I would bring some in. So I did, and I got "I'm not eating that ?#%@". So, it may not be pretty (even though I think it is) it is really good in taste and nutrition.

For the record, I love both cultivated and wild wild rice. I have found wild rice to take a long time to cook, but that's probably because I tend to hoard it over long periods, saving it up for special occasions, and that's not good for dried grains and beans! I once mixed wild and brown rice in the same cooking pot. The brown rice had turned to mush long before the wild rice was done. But then, I once cooked brown rice for over and hour and couldn't get it to soften either. Sometimes you just get unlucky with these grains. But that's unusual, I make them all the time and rarely have issues like that.

lpink - my rice is the real deal. It grows in marshlands on 600 acres of property that has been in my family for well over 100 years. My GG grandmother was Lakota Sioux. We beat the rice into flat bottom shallow boats, dry it in the sun, and winnow it in screen boxes to remove the chafe. It does not take that long to cook.

You guys are very lucky, because I think Teresa is nuts. Real wild rice is a rare treat and a luxury product, it puts cultivated "wild rice" to shame.

If I had a supply of wild rice, I would keep it all for myself, every single grain of it. I would not be giving it away to anyone. :-)

To me, it has an unmistakeably robust, smoky and nutty flavor. I soaked mine over night and it cooked perfectly in only 15 minutes. My preference is to prepare it as simple as possible, without trying to overwhelm it with seasonings.

dcarch

Baked Wild Rice (each year's crop is different)

Pre-heat oven to 350
Put 1 cup raw wild rice in a glass casserole (with lid)
Cover with 3 cups of boiling water or broth
If using water add a pinch of salt
Cover and bake for 40 minutes. If there is still liquid remaining, remove cover, shut off oven and let the rice dry.

One cup of raw rice produced 4.5 cups of cooked rice from this year's crop. Sweet and nutty is how I would describe the 2010 crop. But how would I know......it was lathered in butter! :-)

Teresa, that sounds good.

We have some hunters that hunt on our land from Arkansas and last year they sent us a huge box of all kinds of rice, it was all good. Nothing like we get in the grocery store here. I think I have some wild rice left and going to try your recipe.

Thanks Teresa, that's very helpful to know just how this particular crop is going to work! But geez, I'm trying to hold out until Thanksgiving so I can at least put some of it into my regular bread stuffing. I think it will make a great addition. But now........is it wrong for me to want to make some as a midnight snack?? Slathered in butter!!

Your stuffing sounds good Ann. I wouldn't make the sauce because I don't like sherry or port and Christy won't eat sweet with meat but that doesn't matter. The stuffing looks good standing alone or with just a au jus from the bird. Wonder if it would be best to undercook the rice so it doesn't get blown too much?

Here are two good recipes for any of you looking for tasty ways to prepare wild rice.

I would suggest using a little less cayenne than the recipe calls for.

Wild Rice Corn Pudding
Source: Emeril Lagasse

2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
2/3 cup milk
4 ears sweet corn, blanched and kernels removed from cobs, about 3 cups corn
1 cup cooked wild rice
3 scallions, finely chopped or 1/3 cup finely chopped scallions
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine egg, egg yolk, heavy cream and milk and whisk well to combine. Add all remaining ingredients except butter and mix well.

Grease a 7 by 11 or 8 by 12-inch casserole with the butter. Pour custard ingredients into prepared casserole and bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until custard is set and golden brown on the top.
Serve warm.

Wild Rice Potato Rosti

1/2c wild rice, cooked
2lb potatoes, cooked and peeled
3T walnut oil
1tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 onion coarsely grated and drained
2T fresh thyme
Salt & pepper

Coarsely grate cooked potatoes into large bowl. Add cooked rice.

Heat 2T oil in large non-stick frying pan. Add mustard seeds, when seeds begin to "pop" add onion, cook gently for 5 minutes or until soft.

Add onions to potatoes & rice, add thyme and mix thoroughly. Season with salt & pepper.

Heat remaining oil in pan. Add potato mixture, press down well and cook for about 10 minutes or until golden on bottom. Cove pan with plate and flip over, slide rosti back into frying pan and cook other side 10 minutes more, or until golden. Cut in wedges and serve

Linda

Linda - the corn pudding sounds delish. Today it's going to be wild rice soup and I might try a loaf of Annie's wild rice bread.

I was laying in the sun a week ago yesterday.......woke up to 3" of snow this morning.

Posted by teresa_mn " ----I was laying in the sun a week ago yesterday.......woke up to 3" of snow this morning."

Teresa, that was a heck of a looong nap! LOL

Ann_T, I am going to try your recipe for Thanksgiving. Not that fond of turkey. I will pardon the turkey. :-)
Actually, you had your Canaian Thanksgiving already.

dcarch

Coconut - you could try baking 1 cup rice/2 cups boiling water for 30 minutes at 350 - then test it to see if that is the texture you like. I am baking another batch right now using that combination. I will have plenty for soup and breakfast this week.

Wild rice! It's not just for breakfast anymore! :-)

Karen/lakemayor.......sorry - I did not mean to ignore your questions. Wild rice is much different than regular white or brown rice. It has a really nutty flavor. Cultivated wild rice is easy to find and just as good as the stuff that grows in the wild.

I think baking it produces the best results. I put 1 cup of raw rice in at least 2 cups of boiling water. Covered in a glass casserole it bakes for 30 minutes at 350. Then I test it to see if I like the texture. If it needs more cooking time I add a little more boiling water, cover and bake.

If you have not tried it, it is sure to become a favorite. This is the time of year it is on sale (if ever). It is an aquatic grass seed and stored in a air tight container, can be kept for 10 years. I promise you will eat it long before then. :-)

Teresa