Today was my book club day. There are about 20 of us in our group, all of whom are good cooks and appreciative diners. This group of women is funny, smart and well traveled and we laugh a lot. We meet once a month and each of us brings a dish to share for lunch after our book discussion. Every month (and we’ve been doing this for almost 10 years now) we marvel at how delicious our buffet is. We never coordinate, we never plan a menu, but somehow it always works out that we have an amazing array of food—that goes together perfectly!
Our book this time was Pat Conroy’s new South of Broad. We agreed that maybe this one wasn’t our favorite in his body of work (and he is certainly one of our great writers) but that it was well worth reading and spurred a good and lively discussion about living in the South, about Charleston, religion, race relations, family and all sorts of other interesting stuff.
Our luncheon was composed of lots of dishes appropriate to South of Broad. We had chicken salads, pasta salads, shrimp and grits, finger sandwiches, pound cake and trifle. My offering was this wild rice salad, which is easy to make, can be done ahead, and likes to be left on the counter until you’re ready to eat it. All good qualities for a potluck dish.
Wild Rice Salad
2 cups wild rice, rinsed
4 cups low sodium chicken stock
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
8 ounces smoked ham or turkey, diced
8 green onions, sliced
¼ cup dried cranberries
½ cup sliced green olives
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place the rice and the chicken stock in a saucepan, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and then simmer until the rice is tender but still firm and the liquid is absorbed. Stir and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, honey, cumin, curry powder, cayenne pepper. Add the olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Add the cooked wild rice, chickpeas, ham or turkey, scallions, cranberries, and green olives. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature.
Note: This salad can be made ahead of time—just bring it to room temperature before serving.
