Friday, March 09, 2007

Wild and Nutty


After a week of too many things to do in not enough time, fulfilling in the end, but exhausting, it was a pleasure to go into the kitchen tonight and play with knives and cutting boards and pot and pans. The fact that the dish I prepared really complemented the fresh tuna steak that Sweetie cooked is what really made it satisfying. Wild rice (not actually a true rice, but the seed of a grass native to North America) is nutty in flavor and chewy. Just the thing to go with sauteed fresh vegetables.



You can purchase packets of already cooked wild rice at Trader Joes. All they contain is wild rice and water. They are vacuum packed and shelf stable, too. Tonight the ability to just open the pouch, put it into a microwave safe dish and heat it up in the microwave meant that I had time to sautee onions and mushroom slices in some olive oil, slice a zucchini and a yellow crookneck squash into half moon slices, and cut baby carrots into bite sized chunks.


Once the onions were transluscent (after a few stirs with a wooden spoon now and then), I added some freshly ground pepper, a dash of garlic salt, and about 1/4 teaspoon of thyme. After stirring those into the onion mixture, I tossed in the squash, mixed it up with the onion mixture, and let that cook a minute, stirred, and added the carrot chunks. To that I then added 1/2 cup chicken broth, covered the pan and cooked it on very low heat 3-4 minutes until the veggies were tender but still firm. Removing the cover I tossed in the heated wild rice, stirred it all together and checked for seasoning.

Once the tuna steaks were ready (simply pan fried with lemon pepper and garlic salt...still plenty of pink in the middle, too) we plated it and had a fine Friday night dinner. The green salad that I fixed earlier complemented the tuna and rice mixture very nicely.

There is probably a recipe like this somewhere, but I just sort of made it up as I went along, adding what seemed like the right amount of squash and carrots and mushrooms. A nice opportunity to be creative after a long week.






8 comments :

  1. I love that rice from Trader Joes. Your fish is looking fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sure somewhere there is a recipe but yours is certainly super good to eat. We should all enjoy those times when things seem to come together with such harmony! Beautiful dinner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This looks, and I'll bet it tasted, absolutely divine!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We don't eat enough wild rice, I seem to always forget about it. I'm planning a trip to Trader Joe's in the next week, so I'll look for it - thanks for the shopping tip!

    I love how you sauteed it with the squash and other veggies - that's the kind of side dish I could eat as a main course! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a great things to come home to a dinner like this! I would have a second helping in a heartbeat!

    ReplyDelete
  6. peabody, thanks, but sweetie was the tuna guy. he pan fried it, and kept the inside nice and raw. trader joe really has some great food.

    tanna,it's true, times of harmony are to be treasured.

    anna, it was indeed yum.

    lis, it really could be a main dish and is quite filling.

    helene, wish i could send you a serving. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous8:03 AM

    I did not know wild rice was not actually rice. Your dish looks so well balanced and healthy it is almost like a treat at a spa!

    ReplyDelete
  8. veron, i'd love to go to a spa right about now. guess this is as close as i'll get. thanks.

    ReplyDelete