October 23, 2020

Maitake and Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad

Wild rice, seared maitake, toasted hazelnuts, what’s not to be thankful for in this Thanksgiving salad? This is the prefect Fall meal to celebrate the diversity of Autumn, and beautiful and festive enough to be the centerpiece at your Thanksgiving celebration (certainly prettier than a roasted turkey!). With amazing flavors and textures in every bite, this fresh, filling, and flavorful feast is the fantastic for a festive celebration with friends and family.

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Thankful for A Meal-Sized Salad

While I do like the odd meat substitute, in the end it’s never really as satisfying as a straight up vegan dish not trying to be anything else, and glorious in its celebration of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and fungi. And we’ve got it all in this dish! That variety is what really makes this salad a meal, and not just the start of your meal. There’s nothing worse than getting a salad, and finding it to be made up of wilted greens and too much dressing, perhaps with a firm and sour cherry tomato or two. That’s the type restaurants will often have, that comes with ranch and has the option to add chicken on top. Sad, boring, and really not worth eating. If vegans and actual vegetable lovers were in charge of all salad-design, I can say with certainty that salads would be much more popular. The base of the salad is wild rice, and that’s what gives the salad it’s bulk. On top of that, I like my salads to have a cooked element (wild rice is cooked, but we’ll do another one), so I added these perfectly seared maitake or hen of the woods pieces. After that it’s all about adding those little touches that make your salad flavorful and texturally interesting! Arugula, for some green and a touch of bitterness. Red onion, chopped herbs, toasted hazelnuts- it’s punches of flavor coming from every bite. Top it all off with a ginger, cranberry and maple dressing, and the flavor explosions just keep coming. We resisted this time, but some roasted, chopped squash on top would be phenomenal. This isn’t the type of salad that will have people going home to make a quick sandwich in an hour- it’s a main-meal sized salad to be thankful for.

Looking for Salads? Try one of these!

Wild Rice and Maitake Mushroom

I wanted to take a quick moment to mention the two more unusual ingredients in this recipe. Maitake mushrooms are sometimes called “hen of the woods”, and are a fantastic Fall mushroom. They are most common in October, found snuggled at the base of hardwood trees, generally oak trees. If you’re going to go foraging, this is a pretty good beginner mushroom, although as always do your homework and be certain about your mushroom ID. You can sometimes find them in stores, but the cultivated varieties are not as flavorful or delicious as a wild mushroom.

Wild rice can also be foraged if you live in the Great Lakes region of the United States, but if not you’ll be getting this one from the store. Wild rice isn’t actually rice, but the seeds of an aquatic grass. It has long been a staple for Native people living in the area such as the Ojibwa who called it Manoomin. It was, and sometimes still is, harvested by hand from canoes my Native peoples. Most of the wild rice you find in supermarkets isn’t really wild rice- it’s been cultivated and often grown in California. That’s the variety I’ve used because it’s what I could get my hands on, although I’m always on the lookout for the real deal. The truly wild rice harvest is small and so sells out quickly, but you can always check White Earth Wild Rice or Native Harvest Ojibwe Products for some wild rice harvested in the original manner.

How to Make Wild Rice and Maitake Thanksgiving Salad

Our vegan Thanksgiving salad starts by cooking your wild rice. We cooked ours with 3 cups of water for about 45 minutes, but do whatever is directed on your packaging. While the rice is cooking, you can get everything else ready to go. The maitake are seared until crispy, in plenty of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance), salt and pepper. The rest of it is mostly a little chopping of vegetables, and the hazelnuts are lightly toasted in a dry skillet. The dressing is as simple as blending all the ingredients together. Once everything is prepared, the salad is arranged in layers (really just for aesthetic purposes). When serving, it might actually be a little easier to place it all in a large bowl and toss with the dressing, but I think the beautiful layers is worth getting an extra dish dirty.

Maitake and Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad

Ingredients

1 cup wild rice
½ lb. fresh maitake mushroom, cleaned
2-3 tbsp. vegan butter
½ cup hazelnuts
½ red onion
½ pomegranate
1 clove garlic
½ tsp. fresh tarragon, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Cranberry Ginger Dressing:

1 cup fresh cranberries
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbsp. maple syrup
5 grams fresh, peeled ginger
2-3 springs fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Start cooking the wild rice as directed on the package, and once cooked drain and set aside.
Peel the maitake into bite-sized pieces. Heat a medium-sized skillet, melting the vegan butter. Add the maitake and cook, stirring, until it has turned brown and become crispy. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.
Heat a small skillet, using no oil, and add your hazelnuts. Stir often, and cook until fragrant. Set aside. Dice your onions, mince the garlic, remove the cranberry seeds, and finely chop the tarragon.
Layer the salad with the arugula on the bottom, around the edges. Place the wild rice on top, letting the arugula peek out from underneath. Add the maitake next, followed by the red onion, garlic, hazelnuts, pomegranate, and fresh tarragon. Add a crack of salt and pepper.
Make the dressing my blending the ingredients together until smooth. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until your dressing has the desired thickness.

https://veryveganval.com/2020/10/23/maitake-and-wild-rice-thanksgiving-salad/

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