Summery Salad

Karine
Karine
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read

Cooking is a self-discovering journey. It needs patience. It needs persistence. It needs perseverance. By trying multiple established recipes or cooking formulas, we figure out what’s the best for us. Over the years, I have found my voice in the kitchen by trying, failing, researching, tweaking, trying, failing, researching, tweaking, trying, and finally succeeding to find ways to cook that suit my personal tastes perfectly.

One established cooking formula I tweak is the ratio of oil versus vinegar in salad dressing. The formula says that the ratio should be 1 part of vinegar to 3 parts of oil. As I am a vinegar fan, I change the ratio to usually 1 part of vinegar to 1 part of oil. I love tangy stuff.

Another formula I modify is the ratio of water versus wild rice to make cooked wild rice. I have found that most recipes recommend a ratio of 1 part wild rice to 3 to 4 parts of water. When I follow this ratio, I find that the wild rice becomes too mushy for my taste. Because of that, I have adjusted the ratio for the water downward to 2.5.

These are my personal taste. I can totally understand that you prefer other ways to make your salad dressing or cook your wild rice. The most important is for you to figure out what you enjoy the best!

Recipe

Ingredients

Salad

125 mL cooked wild rice (see below how I cook wild rice)

250 mL cherries, cut in half and pitted

3 apricots, pitted and sliced

30 mL pistachios, shelled and chopped

30 mL feta, crumbled

250 mL watercress

250 mL fresh basil, chopped

Dressing

15 mL olive oil

15 mL lemon juice

15 mL maple syrup or honey

Instructions

  1. Mix salad ingredients and dressing ingredients in separate mixing bowl.
  2. Add dressing to salad and mix.
  3. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Makes two to three servings

How to cook wild rice (my way!)

I usually like to make a large batch of wild rice to get leftovers.

  1. Bring 125 mL of wild rice and 320 mL of water to a boil in a covered pot over medium-high heat. (Note that the ratio I use is maximum 1 part of wild rice to 2.5 part of water.)
  2. Reduce heat to medium and cook till the wild rice has absorbed all the water. Do not stir and keep the pot covered as much as possible!
  3. Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Keep the pot covered and do not stir while the wild rice is resting.
)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade