While the recipe is still easy, as in prep time being around 10 minutes, it does require the wild rice to be cooked on the stove top and the vegetables to be roasted in the oven. The dish is ready in 40 minutes, including roasting time because the wild rice has an overnight soak.
I would say that the most difficult part of this recipe is tackling the butternut squash. My method for preparing this often imagined difficult-to-handle winter squash is to cut off the top stem-end and divide the squash into two pieces, right where the bulb meets the long neck.
Next, I peel the neck-end of the squash using a vegetable peeler and chop as needed. That leaves the time-consuming part of the squash to deal with: the bulb, seeded-end. This I reserve for another dish or another time.
I cut it in half, seed, place cut side down and bake until tender. Then I season and either scoop out the orange flesh or serve as is with a spoon. To peel, seed, and chop the curved bulb end takes a lot of time and effort and is best left as its own separate meal.
So, preheat your oven and by the time it's ready, your squash will be, too.
Ginger Butternut and Fennel Wild Rice
Serves 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes of chopping, 10 minutes pre-heat, overnight soak
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Vegetables:
4 cups shaved fennel
3 cups ½-inch dice butternut squash
½-inch piece ginger, minced
½ cup vegetable broth
Sea salt and black pepper
Rice:
1 ½ cups brown and wild rice blend, soaked overnight and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
½-inch piece ginger, minced
½ teaspoon sea salt
Water, as needed
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
4 scallions, minced
1. Vegetables: Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Combine the fennel, squash, ginger and broth on a baking sheet. Season with salt and black pepper and bake until tender, about 30 minutes.
2. Rice: Combine the drained rice, broth, ginger, salt and enough water as needed to cover the rice by 1-inch in a medium pot. Cook the rice until tender, about 15 minutes over a strong simmer. Drain the rice, return to the pot. Drape a kitchen towel over the rice and steam for 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the beans, scallions and roasted vegetables and season with salt and black pepper, as needed.
Quick Tip: Preheat oven while you chop the vegetables.
© 2015 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.
I usually just roast my squash whole.....http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-roast-whole-butternut-squash-you.html
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Kim! Indeed, whole is the way to go if you have the time. This recipe is quicker to make, though, including the chopping of the veggies. Between us, if I have the time, that is the way I do it. In fact, I recommended it in Everyday Vegan Eats; recipe for Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Casserole, page 177. Great reminder!
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