Wild Rice Salad with Pecans, Mint, Currants, Scallions and Blood Orange Vinaigrette

A resurrected recipe I used to make with “starving actor” friends back in my Hollywood days… economical and delicious, it is perfect for those hot summer days or nights when you wanted something cold and refreshing, but also autumnal enough in flavor to leave out on the buffet for even a holiday gathering. Wild Rice is much more nutritious than white or brown rice, and leaves me feeling fortified. This dish pairs wonderfully with my Cold Shrimp with Fennel and Lemon (coming soon). To make it more of a one bowl meal, try adding some feta cheese or leftover shredded chicken.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Wild Rice Salad with Pecans, Mint, Currants, Scallions and Blood Orange Vinaigrette

A perfect make-ahead dish for those hot summer days or nights when you want something cold and refreshing, but also autumnal enough in flavor to leave out on the buffet for a holiday gathering. With the exception of cooking the rice and toasting the pecans, it's really just assembling the other ingredients, whisking the vinaigrette, and voila, you're done. Let it cool and chill in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Chill1 hour hr

Total Time2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Californian

Keyword: chilled, cold salad, gluten-free, make ahead, rice, room temperature, wild rice

Equipment

• big pot or pressure cooker

Ingredients

• 2 cups wild rice 1 lb, rinsed and drained
• 8 cups chicken stock low sodium
• 2 cups pecan halves roughly chopped
• 2 cups currants
• 2 blood oranges or regular oranges, juiced and zest of 1
• 1 bunch scallions about 5-8 scallions, chives also work
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves save a few stems for garnish
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil more to taste
• Kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions

• Cook the wild rice using broth for the liquid according to instructions. (I brought my broth to boil, added the rice, brought heat down to simmer, covered and cooked about 65-70 minutes). Add more broth or water if rice needs more time, but don't let it get mushy.
• Transfer the rice to a serving bowl and let cool.
• Meanwhile, roughly chop pecan halves, slice the scallions into little wheels from the white end just up to a little bit of green, chop the mint leaves, zest one orange, measure out your currants and add it all to the rice.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, 3 tbsp of the fresh orange juice, a few big pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Drizzle over the rice then gently toss it all together. Taste, add more orange juice if desired.
• Cover with cling wrap and place in fridge for at least one hour, or until the wild rice salad is chilled. Serve cold or room temperature, adding mint sprigs for garnish.

Notes

Chives are a good substitute for the scallions, and dried cranberries in place of currants also works. Blood orange lends a lovely color but regular oranges or tangerines work well here, too. To make it more of a one bowl meal, try adding some feta cheese and/or leftover shredded chicken.