Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin and Wild Rice

I've really started to appreciate Native American influenced food and it is showing up more and more in the things that I serve in my home. As I've mentioned in previous recipes, the Native American influence on world cuisine is profound. As I'm cooking more and more traditional Native American dishes I'm also beginning to fuse it with other foods I prepare like Mexican, Portuguese, etc. Surely, some of those dishes will find their way into Chop Onions, Boil Water.

Wild rice, an important Native American food, is quickly becoming a favorite ingredient of mine. It has a great nutty flavor, a unique texture and it is packed with protein and vitamins to make it a great addition on your dinner plate. It's versatile and you can use it a number of different ways: rice dishes, stuffings, pancakes, etc. You can be sure I'm going to introduce more recipes that include it.

Due to the nature of its harvest, it is expensive compared to common white rice, (which is not a substitute). I recommend you avoid buying it in your local grocery store because it is usually overpriced there (much like saffron), compared to online outlets or even Trader Joe's.

The recipe below is a great introduction to wild rice. When using wild rice it is not uncommon to cut some white rice into it. In this recipe I use a 2:1 wild rice to white rice ratio. It's possible to alter this ratio to 8:1 white rice to wild rice and still get plenty of flavor and texture of the wild rice. So feel free to back off if on the wild rice if you prefer.

The onions and roasted pumpkin certainly don't hurt this dish at all and if you like it a little sweeter, feel free to add more maple syrup or honey. This is a great pairing with smoked meat, roast chicken and the like. I'm having some with sirloin tips this evening.

Roasted Pumpkin and Wild Rice

1 cup wild rice
1/2 cup medium grain rice
1 2 to 2-1/2 lb. sugar pumpkin (seeded, peeled and cut into 3/4" to 1" pieces)
2 slices bacon (cooked, chopped, fat reserved)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1/2 cup chicken stock.
1 TBS peanut oil
3 to 4 tablespoons maple syrup (use the real stuff, go with darker or grade B)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Rice:

Bring 8 cups of cold water to boil. Add 2 TBS salt and the wild rice. Cook the wild rice at a gentle boil for 35 minutes.

When the 35 minutes is up add the white rice and continue gently boiling for 15 minutes.

When rice is finished cooking, strain and rinse with hot water.

While the rice is cooking:

In a large roasting pan or dutch oven combine the pumpkin, onion, bacon, chicken stock, salt and pepper (to taste), bacon fat and peanut oil. Toss all ingredients to coat evenly.

Pour 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup over the pumpkin pieces. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After the pumpkin and onion mixture has baked for 30 minutes, remove the foil and return the pan to the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes.

When the pumpkin and onion mixture is tender and starting to brown, remove from the oven. If pumpkin has not begun to brown, place it under the broiler for a few minutes. Be sure to keep and eye on it so it does not burn.

When done, remove from the oven. Add the rice mixture and 1-2 tablespoons of the remaining maple syrup, toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve hot.

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin and Wild Rice from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk

Recipe: Native American-Style Baked Squash

Squash, Beans and Corn were staples for the Native Americans. They were so important that a philosophy of gardening related to them developed. Called "The Three Sisters", squash, corn and beans were always planted together in mound gardens (usually with fish heads and entrails as fertilizer).

Corn was planted first and a short time later beans were planted close to the developing corn stalks. On the outer edges of the mounds squash was planted. As the plants developed the beans were allowed to grow up the corn stalks. This kept the beans off the ground and away from most hungry pests, and also kept the corn well supported. Amazingly, the beans also added nitrogen to the soil which kept the following year's corn healthy and full. Finally, the squash kept weeds down and slowed moisture evaporation from the soil with its large low leaves. It also further discouraged pests with it prickly vines.

The common idea of America before the arrival of Europeans was of a wildly wooded place populated by a primitive race that lived as hunter-gatherers. The truth is wildly different. Early adventurers as far back as the Vikings and the Conquistadors left written records of large cultivated fields that contained a host of domesticated plants. American native people were hybridizing beans, corn and other plants into many varieties long before the first non-natives ever set foot on the North or South American continents.

For today's entry I have chosen one of my favorite Autumn foods. Squash was also a favorite of many of the New England tribes. To this day one can still find the odd squash patch growing in the woods, a remnant of former native farming.

Oh, and for the record: Corn, beans and squash? Native American gifts to world cuisine. Well, those and potatoes, peanuts, pineapples, etc., etc., etc.

This one is an easy-to-prepare delight.

Native American-Style Baked Squash

1 Acorn, Butternut or similar squash
2 TBS sweet butter
8 tsp maple syrup or maple sugar

Heat the oven to 425°F

Split the squash down the middle and scrape out the seeds and stringy membrane.

Place the squash cut side up in a dutch overn.

Put one tablespoon of butter and four teaspoons of maple syrup or sugar in each half.

Cover the pan and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

Remove from oven, allow to cool enough so you can scrape the flesh from the skins into a bowl.

Mash well or whip. Serve hot as a side or on blue corn cakes (a future recipe).