Black & Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes

Dish: Black & Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Butternut Squash

My theme for the final week of this month's marathon is 'Bookmarked Recipes'. Like all of you, I have a ton of bookmarked recipes and find every opportunity to try those out. So when we have it as a theme in Blogging marathon, I make sure I make the most out of it.

So for the first day, I have an interesting salad with black rice, wild rice and butternut squash. This is a colorful and healthy salad that is very filling and can be served as a light meal or as a side dish to a bigger meal.

This recipe uses only 1~2 cups of butternut squash, but I would suggest to roast the whole squash and store the leftovers in the freezer to use later.

Recipe from Bon Appetite:

Ingredients: Serves 2~3

Black Rice - ½cup
Wild Rice - ¼cup 

Butternut Squash - ½ of a small squash, peeled & cubed
Scallions - 2, thinly sliced
Pistachios - 3tbsp, toasted and chopped
Sesame & Sunflower seeds - 2tbsp each, toasted & chopped

For the dressing:
Olive oil - 2tbsp
Red Wine Vinegar - 2tbsp
Honey - 1tsp
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss butternut squash with 2tbsp olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast, tossing once, until golden brown and tender, 20~25 minutes. Let cool.
• In the meantime, cook black rice and wide rice in a large saucepan of boiling water until tender, 35~40 minutes. Drain and rinse, shaking off as much water as possible. Let cool. 
• Alternately, both the rice can be cooked separately. Cook black rice with 1 cup of water (rice:water=1:2)for 40~45 minutes, until all the water is absorbed and rice is tender.
• For wild rice, combine 1 cup of water and wild rice (rice:water=1:4) in a sauce pan, bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer till all the water is absorbed and rice is tender, about 40 minutes.
• Once the rice & butternut squash are ready, combine them in a mixing bowl along with scallions.
• In a small bowl, whisk all the dressing ingredients and pour it over the rice mixture. Sprinkle the nuts and seeds and enjoy!!

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 49.