How To Make Arugula and Wild Rice Salad
This wild rice salad is packed with flavor, tossed with lots of arugulas, tart cherries, toasted almonds, and feta mixed in a delicious lemon dressing.
Serves:
Ingredients
For Salad:
- 1cupwild rice,rinsed
- ½cupalmonds,sliced
- 1tspolive oil
- 5ozarugula,(about 5 packed cups)
- ½cupfresh basil,coarsely chopped, from one ⅔ oz container
- ½cupdried tart cherries,or cranberries, chopped
- 2ozfeta,(½ cup) or goat cheese, crumbled
For Lemon Dressing:
- ¼cupolive oil
- 2tbsplemon juice,(from 1 medium lemon) to taste
- 2tspdijon mustard
- 1tsphoney,or maple syrup
- 1clovemedium garlic,pressed, or minced
- ¼tspfine sea salt,to taste
- freshly ground black pepper,to taste
Instructions
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
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Add the rinsed rice and continue boiling for 40 minutes to 55 minutes, reducing heat as necessary to prevent overflow, until the rice is pleasantly tender but still offers a light resistance to the bite.
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Remove from heat, drain the rice and return the rice to the pot.
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Cover and let the rice rest for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and let the rice cool.
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To toast the almonds, warm 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat.
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Add the almonds and a pinch of salt, and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, until they’re turning lightly golden and fragrant, stirring frequently.
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Set aside to cool.
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In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients until blended.
To Assemble:
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Transfer the cooled rice to a large bowl. Add the arugula, chopped basil, almonds, sour cherries, and feta.
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Pour in the dressing, toss well, and season to taste with an additional 1 to 2 pinches of salt and pepper.
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If the salad needs more fresh and bright flavor, add up to 1 tablespoon more lemon juice.
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Set the salad aside for 10 minutes before serving, to give the rice time to soak up some of the dressing.
Recipe Notes
- This salad keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 2 to 3 days. You might need to wake up leftovers with an extra drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of lemon (the rice absorbs the dressing over time).
- To make it vegan, skip the feta cheese and substitute maple syrup for the honey.
- To make it nut-free, substitute pepitas for the pecans.
- You can change up the whole grains (such as farro), almonds (pecans or pepitas), feta (goat cheese would work just as well), and dried cherries (simply use dried cranberries). If you can’t find fresh basil, you can safely omit it.
- Instant Pot Option:
- Add the wild rice and 1¼ cups of water to the Instant Pot.
- Secure the lid and move the steam release valve to Sealing.
- Select the Manual or Pressure Cook option and cook on High pressure for 22 minutes. When the cooking cycle is complete, let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, then move the steam release valve to Venting to release any remaining pressure.
- When the floating valve drops, remove the lid and give the rice a stir.
- Let the rice cool for at least 10 minutes before tossing with the remaining ingredients.
Nutrition
- Calories: 443.09kcal
- Fat: 27.43g
- Saturated Fat: 4.94g
- Trans Fat: 0.00g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 17.12g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.27g
- Carbohydrates: 40.80g
- Fiber: 5.90g
- Sugar: 6.41g
- Protein: 13.11g
- Cholesterol: 12.62mg
- Sodium: 316.83mg
- Calcium: 197.30mg
- Potassium: 505.78mg
- Iron: 2.41mg
- Vitamin A: 80.86µg
- Vitamin C: 10.99mg
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