WILD GREENS RECIPES

Steps:

• Please note that most of the quantities of the salad ingredients can be adjusted as desired.For the maple mustard dressing:Place all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and use an immersion blender to blend until smooth and emulsified. If you don't have an immersion blender, place all dressing ingredients in a jar or container with a tight fitting lid and shake until emulsified. Just know that the dressing will not be as smooth.For the salad:First, cook the wild rice. Heat a medium to large sauce pan over high heat. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in wild rice and salt. Turn heat down to low/medium-low, cover, and simmer until wild rice is split open and curled. This should take right around 1 hour. If you see a good amount of wild rice still not split open, simmer for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and drain any excess liquid. Fluff with a fork and set aside.Fry bacon in a skillet over medium heat, until chewy-crisp. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate. Once cool, chop into bite-sized pieces.Place apple slices in a bowl and squeeze some lemon juice over them. Toss a few times to coat. This will help them to not brown as quickly.To assemble the salad, place a layer of greens on the bottom of selected platter. Then arrange the rest of the ingredients as desired. Serve with maple mustard dressing on the side.Note: The ingredient possibilities are nearly endless for a salad like this. If you don't like pecans, use pistachios, walnuts, or almonds. Pears would be lovely instead of the apples. Goat cheese would be nice if blue cheese isn't your thing. And prosciutto would be a good substitute for the bacon.

Steps:

• Place wild rice in a saucepan and pour over just enough boiling water to cover. Set aside, covered, for one hour. Drain rice. Add fresh boiling water to cover by half an inch, and the bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cook gently until rice is soft but not mushy, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well, discard bay leaf, and set aside.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 2-quart gratin dish or a 9x13 baking dish if not stuffing into a turkey.
• Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a sauté pan over medium heat and gently cook the onions until soft, about 7 minutes. Remove skins from sausages and add sausage meat to the pan with the onions. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook, crumbling the sausage with a fork, until it is browned. Remove from the heat and stir in the wild rice.
• Rinse cranberries, picking them over and discarding any that are spoiled. Chop them roughly or process them briefly in a food processor. Add to the sausage-rice mixture and mix well. Add salt, pepper and sage if using and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning.
• Either stuff into a turkey or pour into the prepared dish. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and dot the top. Cover the dish with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden. Serve warm.