I don’t know why, but I get Bon Appetit in my mail every month. I’m guessing it must have been some kind of promotion when I spent too much money at Williams-Sonoma, but it’s also possible that I subscribed late at night whilst tipsy, like how I woke up once after a night out to find that I had drunkenly signed up for Amazon Prime. I mean, out of all the things one could do while inebriated and on the internet, these things are certainly not the worst.
Also, it is very clear that I lead an incredibly exciting life. Be jealous.
Most of the time, none of the recipes in BA really interest me because I’m not cooking for 4+ people or willing to spend time and money on special harissa ground by nuns or whatever. But I came across a recipe for a wild rice salad in the summer 2014 issue, and it cried out: “Hey! Make me!”
It does call for one obscure ingredient (dried lime), but I happened to already have some in my pantry. That said, I’ve also made this without the special lime a few times and it’s still good, so don’t let your lack of that one thing stop you from making this. The lime just adds this extra tart taste to it all that’s wonderful, but not necessary. You can find dried whole limes at shops that sell Middle Eastern and/or Indian ingredients — I got mine from The Souk in Pike Place Market. Get a couple and just keep them in a tightly sealed jar.
Rice Salad with Fava Beans and Pistachios
From the August 2014 issue of Bon Appetit
Yield: 4 servings
Total Time: 45 minutes
1/2 cup wild rice
Kosher salt
1 cup basmati rice
1 dried Iranian lime (optional)
1 cup fresh or frozen (and thawed) shelled fava beans — about 1 lb of pods if buying fresh
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted, raw pistachios (I don’t usually include this out of laziness)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
Cook the wild rice in a small pot of boiling salted water. Boil gently until the grains begin to split, which will take about 30-45 minutes. Wild rice is not like regular rice in that it will not absorb all of the water, so you’ll need to drain it once it’s done.
While the wild rice is cooking, combine the basmati, dried lime, and 1 1/2 cups of water in another small pot. Season with salt, and bring it all to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to low and cover it with a lid. Let this simmer for 10 minutes (no peeking!), then remove it from the heat, fluff the rice with a fork and swirl the whole lime in it, and recover it with a lid. Let this rest off the heat for an additional 5 minutes. Remove the lid and let it cool, after which you can throw away the lime.
If you’re using fresh fava beans, cook it in a pot of salted boiling water for about 4 minutes. Immediately dunk the cooked beans into a bowl of ice water to cool them down and halt the cooking process. Shell the beans into a large bowl.
Toss the basmati rice and wild rice into the same bowl with the shelled beans. Add in the parsley, dill, lemon and lime zests, olive oil, and lemon juice, and stir to combine it all together. Season liberally with salt and serve.
