Taste of the Past: Wild rice

Minnesota-raised wild rice, two ways: Hand-harvested (left), and cultivated. Star Tribune file photo.

This week's Taste of the Past takes a look at a 1985 Minnesota-made wild rice cookbook. Here are a few recipes from that story; for directions on cooking wild rice, go here.

CANADIAN BACON AND WILD RICE QUICHE

Serves 4 to 6.

Note: From "Wild Rice – Star of the North" (McGraw-Hill) and printed in the Oct. 2, 1985 issue of Taste.

1 c. cooked wild rice 1 small onion, diced

1/3 c. julienned strips of Canadian bacon

4 oz. (about 1 c.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 eggs

1 ½ c. half-and-half

½ tsp. salt

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a frying pan over medium heat, fry bacon and onion together until onion is translucent; drain oil and spread bacon and onion in pie shell. Add cheese and cooked rice. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, salt and Tabasco sauce. Pour mixture over ingredients in pie shell and bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Remove from oven, cool 15 minutes, cut into wedges and serve.

LEMON-TARRAGON WILD RICE

Serves 6.

Note: This accompaniment for broiled or fried fish was from Beth Anderson of the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council. Published in the Oct. 2, 1985 issue of Taste.

3 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp. freshly chopped tarragon

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

4 c. cooked wild rice

Strips of lemon peel for garnish

Directions

In a medium pan over low heat, melt better. Stir in chicken bouillon granules, lemon juice and tarragon and cook until granules are dissolved, adding a tablespoon of water only if necessary. Add rice and season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until rice is hot. Transfer to a serving plate, garnish with lemon peel and tarragon and serve.

Taste's "Restaurant Requests" column printed the following recipe in that same issue. "Please try to obtain the recipe for Mother's Cream of Chicken Wild Rice Soup served at Fitger's Inn Restaurant in the old Fitger Brewery, Duluth, Minn.," wrote Cathy Strub of North St. Paul. "It was beyond compare." Tamara M. Fast, the restaurant's executive chef, complied with the request.

FITGER'S INN CREAM OF CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP

Serves 8.

4 tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 peeled carrots, finely diced

6 stalks asparagus, finely diced

5 c. chicken stock

½ tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

Freshly minced chives and parsley, to taste

2 c. half-and-half

2 c. whole milk

1 ½ c. cooked wild rice

Directions