Here are some recipes from home cook Jen Lailey that we couldn’t fit into our February issue:
Wild Rice and Orzo Salad
½ cup wild rice
1 cup dried orzo pasta
Salt and pepper
Optional ingredients: chopped chives, dried cranberries, frozen blueberries, chopped basil, diced red
onion, corn kernels, chopped peppers, pine nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, chopped zucchini, green
peas, chopped garlic.
1. Boil the wild rice in salted water for about 30 minutes. Turn the heat off and let sit with the lid
on for another 30 minutes.
2. Cook orzo in boiling salted water until al-dente. Drain orzo and wild rice and combine with your
choice of optional ingredients and season with salt and pepper.
3. Toss with dressing and serve within the hour.
Dressing
2 tbsp vinegar (white wine is good)
1 ½ tbsp honey or maple syrup
¾ tsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp minced garlic
Freshly ground pepper
¼ cup canola, sunflower or walnut oil
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Makes 8 to 10 servings
Carrot salad with Cardamom, Ginger and Lemon
This is a most refreshing and possibly immune boosting salad.
2 ½ lbs carrots, peeled
½ red onion, finely chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
150 ml olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
A thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped or grated
½ tsp ground cardamom
A small handful of mint leaves if available, to serve
1. Put the carrots in a blender and pulse into small pieces (not too fine as you need to keep some
texture). Transfer to a bowl, add the onion and mix together well.
2. To make the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, salt, sugar, ginger and cardamom.
Add to the carrots and onion, toss well and then leave in the cold for a few hours. Toss through
a few mint leaves before serving.
Raspberry Oatmeal Squares
Oatmeal Base:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 cups rolled oats, divided
Filling:
1 cup raspberry jam or preserves
1. Preheat oven to 350F and place rack in center of oven. Butter a 9 X 9 inch baking pan. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until
incorporated. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the
butter mixture and mix until well combined. Stir in 1 ¾ cups of the rolled oats. Press 2/3 of the
dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Spread the raspberry jam over the oatmeal base. To the remaining dough add the remaining
¼ cup of the rolled oats. Crumble this mixture evenly over the top of the raspberry jam. Bake
for about 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned. Place on a wire rack to cool and then cut into
squares.
