Wild Rice Salad with feta, walnuts, and pomegranate

Wild rice is such a cool ingredient.  I love it’s chewy bite.  It’s actually a grass and has the second highest protein content (second only to oats). Anyway, I had a pomegranate ready to be used and from there the recipe just kinda fell into place.

For the dressing, I wanted something a little different than a vinaigrette.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a simple vinaigrette, but I’ve been going that route a LOT these days.

I decided on an orange shallot dressing, but sautéed the shallots in olive oil first to take off some of the bite.  I also toasted walnuts at the same time.

Orange Shallot Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 large shallot, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil + 1/2 cup olive oil (divided)
• 1 orange, juiced
• 3 tbsp champagne vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Saute the minced shallot in 1 tbsp olive oil until translucent and cooked through.  Turn off heat and let cool slightly before adding the rest of the oil, orange juice, vinegar, and salt.  Stir to combine and set aside.

Half went on the rice and half got massaged into the kale.  And when I say massage, I mean really get your hands dirty and work the leaves.

I used a whole bunch of kale, which I massaged from the above down to the below with half the dressing.

Once the rice was done cooking, I mixed the rest of the dressing into it.

Next I added the kale.

Followed by the walnuts and pom arils.

And then last but not least, the feta.

This was a big hit with the whole family.  Everyone polished their portion off and Kyle couldn’t stop raving about it.  P loooooves walnuts and pomegranate and V asks for kale salads with cheese whenever I ask her what she feels like for dinner, so it’s pretty much covering everyone’s faves.

Doesn’t it look like a festive holiday salad?  The red and green are making me feel all the Christmas feels and I’m usually of the mindset that we need to properly soak up Thanksgiving before we can look ahead, but for some reason I’m ok with it right now.  I think the pandora holiday station may make it’s debut this week…

Wild Rice Salad with Feta, Walnuts, and Pomegranate and Orange Shallot Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups wild rice (~4 cups cooked)
• 1 bunch curly kale, destemmed and torn into bite size pieces
• 1 cup raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup pomegranate arils
• 4-5 oz feta, crumbled
• orange shallot dressing (see above)

Directions:

Cook wild rice (I used a rice cooker, but you can use a pot with a 3:1 water:rice ratio).  While the rice is cooking, make the dressing.

Prep kale and then massage half the dressing into the kale.  Once the rice is done, mix in the rest of the dressing.

Toast walnuts for ~10 minutes at 375 degrees F.  Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

To assemble the salad, toss the rice, kale, and walnuts together and then fold in the pom and cheese.  Serve and enjoy!