An Answer To That Perplexing Question: What To Take To A Potluck?

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Call me anti-social if you like, but in general, I’m not a big fan of potlucks. I guess, I’m afraid there won’t be anything I want to eat. My worst nightmare is a table laden with boxes of cold Kentucky Fried Chicken, tired raw veggies and dip, congealed pizza, cookies from Safeway, and convenience store soda.  And so, when someone says “potluck,” I tend not to hear. But once in a while, to be social, I violate my unwritten rule against participating in these sometimes sad affairs, and promise to attend.

And what then? Then I must come up with something to bring.  As a professional cook, I’ve convinced myself that a contribution like purchased salsa and chips would be an embarrassment. I feel obligated to cook something from scratch. But what?  My goal each time is to conjure up a dish which will serve as a complete meal, so I’ll have at least one dish that’s satisfying even if there’s little else that seems appetizing. By complete meal, I’m thinking: whole grain, protein and vegetables all in one dish. And that’s what today’s recipe represents.  Here’s what I took to a potluck yesterday: a wild and long grain brown rice salad with marinated tofu (I also made a version with poached and diced chicken breasts), arugula, roasted sweet potatoes and mushrooms, celery, dried cranberries and toasted sunflower seeds with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. If my approach seems selfish, so be it, but in reality I’m always thinking to make a dish lots of other people will enjoy as well.

Lest you think I’m a total curmudgeon, let me admit that I had a great time at yesterday’s potluck. I realize that the most important part of these events is not the food, but the getting together with folks, in this case gay and lesbian people and our friends in Vallejo (thanks to Ric and Richard for being such gracious hosts).  And by the way, there was a table laden with a wide variety of items, and I found a great plenty to eat. All in all, a good day–bright sun, warm conversation, and despite my worst fears, enjoyable food. A recipe for the wild rice and arugula salad is after the jump.

Great Grains: Farmed “Wild” Rice, The Affordable Luxury

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Adding wild rice to holiday grain dishes dresses them right up. Here, Wild Rice Croquettes with a Creamy Mushroom Gravy (recipes after the jump).

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Native Americans in Minnesota (where I grew up) have been harvesting wild rice for thousands of years and do to this day, making it one of the few indigenous foods commonly acclaimed as part of Minnesota cuisine.  There, wild rice turns up in “hot dishes,” pancakes, breakfast porridge, stuffing, and soup most prominently. “Wild” rice is now mostly cultivated, although sometimes you can still find the hand-harvested, truly wild variety, and as it’s considered a delicacy, you will pay two to three times the price of farmed “wild” rice. (Order  truly wild rice on line, here.) I should add that we Californians are now free to consider wild rice a local food because California has come to rival Minnesota in the size of its farmed wild rice crop.

As much as I love the distinctive, earthy flavor of wild rice, I like it better mixed with other rice or grains than I do on its own. In recipes, I typically use four times as much regular rice as I do wild rice. Compared to brown rice, wild rice is higher in protein, and lower in fat and carbs–so it’s well suited to today’s dietary trends. If  you’ve never cooked wild rice, treat it pretty much as you would brown rice–perhaps increase the cooking time a little–and you can’t go wrong. My adaptable recipe for wild rice croquettes is after the jump. Depending on your needs, you could use this recipe as a main dish in a vegan or vegetarian meal, as a side dish, and the basic recipe can even be modified to make stuffing.  How’s that for versatile?

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Native American women harvesting wild rice, print by Mary H. Eastman, 1853.