I have a pantry stocked with ingredients purchased while traveling. Truffle oil, dried porcini, aged balsamic vinegar, unusual pasta shapes from Italy, black currant cassis liqueur from France, paprika from Spain and marmalades from London. All get tucked away for special occasions. This holiday season I’m cooking the hand-harvested wild rice I bought in early fall in Minnesota.

We dined at Indigena by Owamni, a beautiful restaurant alongside the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. The restaurant specializes in the culinary traditions of Indigenous peoples across the Americas. There, we thoroughly enjoyed tepary bean and smoked fish tostadas, skewered venison with a maple-sumac glaze and a rice side dish made with hand-selected wild rice and dried berries.

Wild rice, a cereal grain native only to North America, cooks to tenderness in salted water in about 45 minutes. Using chicken broth instead of water yields a richer dish with a more subtle grain flavor. You can cool the rice in the broth (it will continue to absorb some of the broth) and refrigerate it for several days. Cooked wild rice also freezes well.

Wild rice, with its nutty flavor and toothsome texture, makes a great side dish for roasted poultry and pork. Tucking in tart, fresh cranberries, crunchy celery, and onions really makes the mahogany-colored rice feel festive. For added flavor, brown some sage-flavored pork sausage with the vegetables. Or, for a vegetarian dish, swap in cooked small lentils for the pork sausage.

For a main dish or hearty side, roast whole acorn or small honeynut squash while the rice and aromatics cook. Then cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and fill the hollowed centers with some of the rice mixture. Assemble the dish in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with a lid for an impressive potluck dish. Refrigerate covered up to a couple of days. To serve, pop the dish in a hot oven to heat through.

Look for wild rice in large supermarkets or online. The hand-selected rice sold on https://iflmarket.com is gathered and processed by local Indigenous peoples and hand-packaged at the Indigenous Food Lab, which works to cultivate the seeds of Indigenous Heritage.

Wild Rice and Sausage with Cranberries

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Note: If desired, substitute 1 1/2 cups cooked brown or white rice for the wild rice. For a vegetarian dish, use 2 cups cooked small lentils instead of the pork sausage; increase poultry seasoning to taste.

2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups water and 2 teaspoons chicken base or bouillon powder)

1/2 cup (4 ounces) uncooked wild rice

1 package (16 ounces) bulk pork breakfast sausage with sage

2 small or 1 large rib celery, trimmed, chopped

1 medium-size onion, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, cored, seeded, chopped

1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed

1 small tart apple, cored, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 tablespoon dried poultry seasoning (or 1 1/2 teaspoons rubbed sage, 1/2 teaspoon each: oregano, rosemary, basil)

1/2 teaspoon each: salt, freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1. Put broth into a small saucepan. Add rice. Heat to boil; reduce heat to low. Cover pan. Cook until rice kernels start to open and are tender to the bite, 40 to 45 minutes. Uncover and let cool. (Rice can be cooked up to 3 days in advance; refrigerate covered.)

2. Meanwhile, remove sausage from plastic casing and crumble into a large, deep nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat, breaking up clumps with a wooden spoon or silicon spatula into small bits, until no longer pink and some edges start to brown, about 15 minutes. Drain off excess fat.

3. Add celery, onion and red pepper to pan. Cook over low heat until vegetables are crisp-tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Stir in cranberries, apple, garlic, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in cooked rice. Taste and adjust seasonings. (Mixture can be made up to three days in advance; refrigerate covered. Reheat in a large skillet over medium heat or in a microwave-safe dish on high, stirring a couple of times, until hot about 4 minutes.)

5. Stir in parsley. Serve hot.

Wild Rice Stuffed Squash

Makes 6 to 8 servings

1 recipe wild rice and sausage with cranberries

3 medium-large (about 1 pound each) acorn squash or 4 honeynut squash, scrubbed clean

Salt, freshly ground pepper

1/3 cup sour cream or plain yogurt thinned with a little milk

Fresh parsley sprigs for garnish

1. Make rice mixture.

2. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Use a thin-bladed knife to pierce the squash in several places. Place on baking sheet. Bake, turning squash once or twice, until tender when pierced with a knife, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool.

3. Cut squash through the stem end in half. Scoop out seeds, Place cut side up in an oiled 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Season insides of squash with salt and pepper to taste. Fill with rice mixture. Spoon remaining rice mixture around squash.

4. Bake until everything is heated through, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve drizzled with sour cream. Garnish with parsley.

(JeanMarie Brownson is a James Beard Award-winning author and the recipient of the IACP Cookbook Award for her latest cookbook, “Dinner at Home.” JeanMarie, a chef and authority on home cooking, Mexican cooking and specialty food, is one of the founding partners of Frontera Foods. She co-authored three cookbooks with chef Rick Bayless, including “Mexico: One Plate at a Time.” JeanMarie has enjoyed developing recipes and writing about food, travel and dining for more than four decades.)

©2026 JeanMarie Brownson. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.