Slow Food Fast

Thursday was kind of rushed–we started the morning late and kept being slow until it was nearly 2:30 and time to Zoom our family. But I managed to get a few Thanksgiving-type things going in the microwave for dinner before that and even managed to post about them at an almost-civilized length instead of going off on more tangents than anyone really wants to read even under current conditions. Artichokes–no big deal. Cranberry sauce, even less. Wild rice, though.

Any grain with a tough husk takes a longish time to cook conventionally on a stovetop compared with something like white rice or rolled oats. And wild rice is tough enough that the Trader Joe’s package directions strongly recommend soaking the stuff in a bowl of water in the fridge overnight before attempting to boil it. A good suggestion that would help for microwaving too–a fine suggestion, if only we had started with things the day before. Not all that helpful when you need it the same day.

Microwaving works for brown rice, another long-cook whole grain, so it should (and in fact did) work for wild rice too. But it’s not quite the brief one-step kind of technique it is for white basmati rice. More a “nuke a few minutes to a simmer, let it sit 10 or so minutes to absorb hot liquid, stir, nuke a few more minutes and go away again, stir and check…..” kind of thing, similar to the way I cook beans, chickpeas and lentils, but with fewer rounds of cooking. I don’t know, it didn’t seem like a nuisance to me because I was doing two or three other things while it sat (one of those was sipping champagne while noshing with my husband on a few decorator cheeses and nuts and chatting with my in-laws and my daughter over Zoom). So I wasn’t in an overwhelming rush.

And it came out pretty nicely, so I’m posting it now. I would in fact do this again, because it came out pretty much as well as the original with a lot less work.

When I was younger and well before I had a child (who is now old enough to cook with her housemates, and did), I would make this pilaf in an electric wok with a lid, frying the onions and mushrooms first with the herbs, then adding the wild rice and some pearl barley and broth, bringing it to a boil and turning it down to simmer with a lid for however long, checking once in a while and stirring in the fruits and nuts and adding a little broth or water as needed. Similar idea to the microwaving, but on a stove or any heat element, you need to stay a lot more present. Microwaving lets you go away–it can stop itself and sit for a while without things drying out and scorching.

What’s also good about doing this pilaf in the microwave is that once the rice itself is done, part fluffed-out curly gray grains and part long brown chewy but cooked grains, you just drain it, mix all the pilaf additions and flavorings into the container, microwave a minute or two more to heat it all through, and serve, and it tastes like you bothered a lot more than you actually did. And it tastes good the next day, and the next, and it keeps its light pilaf texture well when you reheat it.

Obviously, you can make this to your taste–mix and match, omit or substitute for any ingredients you don’t like or can’t eat for allergy reasons. You could add or subtract things like carrots, celery, shallots, herbs like dill or basil, other nuts like chestnuts, almonds, cashews or sunflower seeds, etc. I also haven’t included salt in this recipe because everyone’s different. There’s enough savory and tart flavor here for those who don’t or can’t use salt and everyone else can salt it themselves to their own tastes at the table.

Wild Rice Pilaf in the Microwave

Makes about 4 cups

• 1 c. wild rice
• medium onion, diced
• a good handful or so of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, and/or a few shiitake mushrooms, soaked up to reconstitute if not fresh, and sliced thinly
• a good handful of raisins, craisins (dried cranberries), chopped prunes, dried figs or apricots, chopped peeled fresh apple, etc. as desired
• a good handful of toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1 clove garlic, minced, mashed or grated
• 1-2 stalks worth of thyme leaves or 1/2 t dried, and/or 1-2 minced or crumbled sage leaves, just to taste–don’t overdo
• lemon juice and/or red wine vinegar (or cider or sherry or rice wine vinegar) to taste
• drizzle of olive oil
• a little vegetable stock or bok choy broth, optional

Cook the wild rice:

1. Rinse the wild rice in a fine-mesh colander or sieve, then scoop it into a 2-3 qt/l microwaveable bowl or container and add water to cover by 1/2 inch (1 cm) and put on a lid.
2. Microwave 5 minutes on HIGH (1150W) or whatever time will get the water heated to a simmer–you should see the liquid starting to bubble up a little at the edges; if it’s not hot enough add a minute at a time, keeping the lid on and a sharp eye on the microwave so you don’t let it boil over.
3. Let the container sit with the lid on, the door shut and the power off for 10-15 minutes. The grain may not look a lot different the first time around, but it should have absorbed some of the liquid so the liquid level should be lower.
4. Take the lid off carefully, stir gently with a soup spoon or fork to move the grain from the bottom to the top, put the lid back on (assuming there’s still liquid–if not, add a little water) and microwave another 3 minutes and let sit again. Do this one or two more times, stirring and checking for doneness–you can let the bowl or container sit half an hour if you have other things to do.
5. When the grain is cooked and tender, drain off the extra liquid carefully and fluff the rice with a fork or spoon.

Additions:

1. Microwave the chopped onion and mushrooms on an open plate for 2 minutes to parcook and take the raw edge off.
2. If you’re soaking up dried shiitakes or other dried mushrooms, rinse them well, put them in a microwaveable soup bowl or mug with just enough water to barely cover (the mushrooms will float anyhow, so maybe half a mug of water) and microwave on HIGH 1-2 minutes, let sit a minute, and remove them to slice. Save the liquid.
3. If you’ve got dried fruit, hot-soak it quickly the same way.
4. Toast the nuts for 5-10 minutes in a toaster oven on a lower setting, about 250F (100-125 C) to roast evenly and avoid scorching. Or just buy them preroasted if you can and the price isn’t higher…
5. Add the onions, mushrooms, fruit and nuts to the rice with the garlic, thyme and/or sage. Drizzle on some oil and vinegar and a squeeze of lemon and toss very gently. If the pilaf seems drier than you want, drizzle on a few spoonfuls of stock or mushroom or dried-fruit soaking liquid or just water. Put the container lid back on and microwave 1-2 minutes to heat it through again.

Filed under: cooking, Grains, holiday cooking, kitchen safety, Microwave tricks, Revised recipes | Tagged: cooking, food, recipes, Thanksgiving, vegetarian |