Wild Rice Minnesota Style: A side dish for Thanksgiving dinner

Looking for a side dish to bring to Thanksgiving dinner?

Wild Rice Minnesota Style is the perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving table. This recipe is easy to make and adds just a few ingredients to the wild rice. It’s what we Minnesotans eat with our turkey, gravy, stuffing, and cranberries.

Minnesota Style

I found this recipe card for Wild Rice Minnesota Style in my old recipe book. The recipe was well used and well worn and was written in my mom’s familiar handwriting. However, I don’t know if my mom called it “Minnesota Style” or if it was titled that in a cookbook or magazine somewhere.

Autumn in Minnesota is a hallowed time and never seems to last long enough. At this time, in November with Thanksgiving coming, many Minnesotans’ thoughts turn to wild rice. Wild Rice Minnesota Style tastes like a Minnesota fall.

How to make Wild Rice Minnesota Style

Here are the ingredients you will need to gather. The main ingedient will be wild rice. I usually buy my wild rice at a store in my city called Lund’s and Byerly’s. See their article about wild rice. But what exactly is wild rice?

You will need:

• 4-5 cups of chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups washed (well) wild rice
• 1 1/2 cups diced celery
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup diced mushrooms
• butter for sauteeing vegetables and mushrooms (about 2 T)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

You will need a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with lid.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Saute vegetables and mushrooms in butter.

Place all (except 1 cup of broth) into the 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.

Cover tightly and bake at 375 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours plus a little more to make sure rice pops open.

Add more broth as needed while cooking.

Check for doneness. Remove from oven and uncover. Fluff with fork.

Serve immediately or let cool, recover and store in refrigerator until needed. Heat up in batches in bowl in microwave if necessary.

Because it is hearty, this wild rice dish tastes good the next day and the day after. Also, it makes a delicious addition to after Thanksgiving Day soup made up of leftovers and broth.

How to make Wild Rice Minnesota Style

First, gather your ingredients.

Next, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Now, dice the celery, onion, and mushrooms.

Then, sautee the vegetables and mushrooms in butter. You can stir the wild rice in to the sauteed vegetable and mushroom mix if you wish.

Now place all ingredients (except 1 cup broth) into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Add salt and pepper to taste.

So that it cooks properly, cover tightly and cook in a 375 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Because it is often not quite done after 1 1/2 hours, I usually cook it longer, adding broth towards the end.

You will want to check for the doneness of the wild rice. It should pop open.

Finally, remove from oven when done and uncover and fluff with a fork. Be sure to taste some.

Don’t be alarmed if your casserole dish and lid turn brown. That’s just the way it is. It will wash off.

With winters being so tough, Fall in Minnesota is the prize

In November I often think of the words of American poet John Berryman:

Fall comes to us as a prize

to rouse us toward our fate.

John Berryman

We have wild turkeys right in the middle of the city

We do have urban turkeys. The Twin Cities contain many areas of dense, wooded land. The Mississippi River loops right through the Twin Cities, and its banks are full of wildlife. There is even have a state park right next to the international airport here.

We regularly see deer, foxes, coyotes, wild turkeys, and tons of raccoons in our city neighborhoods. I even saw some kind of large bobcat standing in the middle of the street one late night.

Be sure to tell us if you served Wild Rice Minnesota Style as a side dish with your turkey and stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner.

For a similar Retro Food recipe visit my post on Minnesota Hamburger Rice Hot Dish

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