What is wild rice?
Edward Bottone is a food and lifestyle journalist, a former chef and restaurateur, TV and radio presenter, and culinary educator.
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Wild rice is not really rice but rather a grain of a reed like plant native to Minnesota (Zizania palustris, and Zizania aquatica), and cultivated in other regions of the US and Canada. Indigenous Ojibwe people harvested the grain growing in stands along the perimeter of Lake Superior (Gichigami) by knocking the overhanging ripe grains from their stalks in to their canoe. The “green rice” is then parched, threshed and winnowed. Wild rice did not have a market presence until the 1960’s, but had always been a staple of indigenous Americans, and was declared the state grain of Minnesota in 1977.
Second only to oats in protein content, wild rice, is a good source of niacin, vitamin B folate, magnesium, iron, zinc and manganese, and is gluten-free. The unpolished dark brown kernels split slightly when properly cooked, revealing a white interior, and have a rich nutlike flavor.
Wild Rice, Cabbage and Bacon
1 cup wild rice
2 tbs olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 slices bacon
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
4 tsp red wine vinegar
Preheat oven to 350°F. Rinse wild rice well and drain. Bring broth to a simmer.
In a flameproof casserole, sauté rice in oil over moderate heat, stirring, a couple of minutes.
Stir in hot broth and salt and pepper to taste.
Bring mixture to a boil and then bake, covered, in middle of oven 1 hour, or until liquid is absorbed and rice has “unfurled” its white interior, and is tender.
While rice is cooking, cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels; chop. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of drippings.
Sauté the onions in the drippings until softened; add the cabbage stirring, and cook until softened.
Add vinegar and salt and pepper to taste stirring to combine.
Just before serving, stir cabbage mixture into cooked wild rice, and sprinkle with bacon.
