Warm Chicken & Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Vegetables

I seem to be on a kick for warm salads of roasted vegetables. This is a salad, I guess, and not a casserole, but it definitely inhabits the borderland between the two. Mr. Ferdzy was a bit perplexed by it but proceeded to eat truly startling quantities of it, so it's a happy habitation, I would say.

Wild rice is available all year round, but it always goes so well with autumn vegetables that this is the time of year I seem to use it most. This is a bit of a casual dish for such an expensive ingredient, but sometimes I don't care. Well worth it, I thought.

4 servings
1 hour - 20 minutes prep time

Cook the Wild Rice:
1 cup wild rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups water

Put the wild rice and salt into a rice-cooker with the water and turn it on. Alternatively, it can be cooked in a pot on the stove. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to low and cook, covered, for about 45 minutes until the rice is cooked and the water absorbed. This can be done a day in advance.

Roast the Chicken & Vegetables:
1 large carrot
6 to 8 large shallots
450 grams (1 pound) Brussels sprouts
2 or 3 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
4 large (450 grams; 1 pound)  skin-on boneless chicken thighs
2 teaspoons rubbed savory
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Peel the carrot and cut it into short, thin strips. Peel the shallots and cut them into quarters. Wash and trim the Brussels sprouts and cut them in half or quarters if they are large. Toss the vegetables with the oil in a large shallow baking pan.

Cut the chicken thighs in half - you are most likely to get skin-on thighs with the bone in too, so I did this in the process of removing the bone - and toss them with the mixed seasonings. Arrange them over the vegetables and roast for 30 minutes.

If you cooked the wild rice the day before, it should come out of the fridge to warm up a bit while the chicken and vegetables roast. 

After 30 minutes, stir the vegetables, but shift the chicken pieces around to keep them on top. Roast for a further 15 minutes.

Dress the Salad & Finish:
the juice of 1 large lemon
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Juice the lemon into a jam jar or small bowl, and mix in the mustard.

Measure out the seeds and cranberries, and mix them.

When the roasting pan comes out of the oven, remove the chicken pieces to a plate to cool slightly.

Mix the wild rice into the vegetables, along with the seeds and cranberries. Drizzle the dressing over and toss again.

Chop up the chicken and mix it back into the salad.





Last year at this time I made Lentil, Carrot & Parsley Salad.

Posted in: Ontario Food