Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Cranberry and Grains Salad

Here's another try at duplicating Central Market's addictive Four-Grain Salad (see also Wheatberry Salad recipe below). Drawn from this Wild Rice Salad and these instructions for preparing wheatberries.

  • 1 cup wheat berries
  • 3 cups salted water
  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • 1 cup wild rice
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup basmati rice
  • 1 1/2 cups water with a pat of butter
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 3/4 cup slivered almonds
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 Tbsp dark sesame oil

1 In a saucepan, cook wheatberries in 3 cups of salted water for 45 min. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook. Remove from heat. Cool completely.

2 In a saucepan, cook the rices in chicken broth for 40 min. Cool completely.

3 Simmer basmati 25 min. in 1 1/2 cups of water with a little butter.

4 Whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil.

5 In a large bowl, gently mix together the cooled cooked rice, wheat berries, dried cranberries, almonds and dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed.

Chill completely before serving.