The Wild Rice Salad
Wild Rice Salad with Smoked Salmon and Celery
Some rules are made to be stretched. The classic French ratio for dressings is three parts oil to one part vinegar or other acid, but some dressings call for a little more acid bravado; specifically, when they will be coating something very earthy, say wild rice, or beets, or both. This salad gets extra freshness from another oft-wasted food: the pretty golden-yellow leaves at the heart of a bunch of celery. They are one of my favorite brightening ingredients.
Extra ingredients: cooked wild rice, cooked beets
Time: 5 minutes (5 minutes active)
Makes 1 main course serving or 2 side servings
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 golden beets, roasted, peeled, and cut into ½-inch wedges
1 cup thinly sliced celery, taken from the pale yellow center of the bunch
1 cup cooked wild rice, at room temperature
2 ounces hot-smoked salmon, or other cooked salmon, flaked
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ cup celery leaves
1 tablespoon minced chives
1. In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, and olive oil.
2. In a large bowl, toss the beets, celery, wild rice, and salmon. Dress with the lemon juice mixture and season to taste with salt and black pepper (this can be done several hours in advance; refrigerate until shortly before serving).
3. Taste and add more lemon juice, salt, or pepper if desired. Just before serving, toss in the celery leaves and chives.
VARIATIONS
- Add more salmon. If you want a more substantial meal and you have extra salmon on hand, by all means add a little more.
- Do a grain swap. This salad works well with nearly any grain or pasta; try white rice, black rice, or quinoa, or even buckwheat soba noodles.
- Substitute the protein. Try plain cooked fish or edamame in the salad in place of the salmon. If you want to add a little smoky flavor, season with smoked sea salt, or mix a pinch of smoked paprika into the dressing.
- Substitute the beets. The beets are present to add an earthy sweetness to the mixture. You could substitute in other roasted veggies, such as sweet potatoes or squash, or take a different tack and use fresh pear or apple slices.
- Consider other herbs. If you can’t locate chives at the market, or if your celery bunch is a little lean on leaves, work some flat-leaf Italian parsley into the mixture. Tarragon, chervil, and scallion tops would also be interesting.
GETTING TO COOKED
WILD RICE
Rinse 1 cup of wild rice in cold water and soak it overnight in the refrigerator (this cuts down on the cooking time). The next day, bring 6 cups of water to a boil with 1 teaspoon of salt. Drain the soaked rice, add it to the boiling water, return to a boil, then reduce the heat to a lively simmer and cook until most of the kernels have burst to show their light interiors, about 20 minutes. Drain.
This will make about 3 cups of cooked rice. If you are strictly prepping for the recipe above, start with ⅓ cup wild rice, but I like to have more on hand if I’m taking the trouble.