Wild Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
1 batch cooked Wild Rice (preceding recipe)
4 or 5 mushrooms, quartered
About 2 teaspoons butter or light olive oil
3 or 4 scallions, cut in half lengthwise (if they are very thin, leave them whole)
A small handful of snow peas
A scattering of slivered almonds
A couple of slices ham or prosciutto, in strips (optional)
Preparation
Step 1
If the wild rice you have prepared has cooled, pour boiling water over it to warm it. Sauté the mushrooms in the butter or light olive oil for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the warmed rice, the scallions, and the snow peas to the pot and cook for a minute or two. Correct the seasoning, spoon everything onto a warm plate, and scatter the almonds on top. The addition of ham or prosciutto is only if you want to make a more substantial dish, and you can add the meat during the last minute or so of cooking, just long enough to warm it through.
Variation
Step 2
Try other vegetables according to the season: asparagus spears, zucchini cut into matchstick-sized pieces, blanched green beans or fava beans, or artichoke hearts.
The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones. Copyright © 2009 by Judith Jones. Published by Knopf. All Rights Reserved.
Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food and the coauthor with Evan Jones (her late husband) of three books: The Book of Bread; Knead It, Punch It, Bake It!; and The Book of New New England Cookery. She also collaborated with Angus Cameron on The L. L. Bean Game and Fish Cookbook, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. She lives in New York City and Vermont.
