Cranberries and Christmas

The festive season is upon us and I have noticed this year Dubai has well and truly embraced this celebration.  There are festivals and fairs happening every week already!!  I think we could be forgiven as most expats who celebrate Christmas are having to plan, shop and post their gifts to their home countries.

UAE National Day is on the 2nd December (another long weekend yay!) and the national colours include Red and Green, so with both big celebrations nearing (as well as this city’s love of all things that glitter) the town is looking very festive!

I was a little hesitant to start pinning up the mistletoe as it is still November, but I have just had confirmation that we have a large group coming over for Christmas lunch (very excited) so a little advance planning is in order.  Just like you pre order the fresh tree and the turkey and trimmings, I want to make sure I am completely organised when it comes to preparing the food (this is stressful enough!!) so I have started collecting key ingredients each week, and I can confirm I have filled up our pantry and bought every last bag of dried cranberries from the local supermarket!!

Cranberries are so delicious and one of my favourite ingredients for this festive celebration, tart and sweet and are fantastic in both savoury and sweet Christmas fare.  And this recipe is no exception.

Most people can agree the Turkey is a Christmas essential along with whatever other meats might be part of your Christmas Day tradition, but it is the sides that really make your lunch or dinner a stand out.

This side dish is a great addition to your feast, as it can be prepared ahead of time and wont add to the traffic coming and going in your oven.  It also caters to the vegetarians as a substantial dish.  It can be packed up for a picnic or served on a beautiful platter, it is so versatile and delicious with all the flavours as well as colours of Christmas in a bite.

Red Rice Christmas Salad

Recipe serves 6-8 as part of a feast

Salad

• 1 cup Red Carmague and Wild Rice *(Waitrose brand, I found it in Spinneys) you can substitute with 80% Brown Basmati and 20% Wild Rice
• 1 small butternut pumpkin (butternut squash) peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 medium zucchini (one with the dark green skin preferably) cut into same size as the pumpkin
• ¼ cup cranberries
• ¼ cup raisins (I actually used ½ cup mixed raisins and cranberries
• zest of 1 small orange or clementine if available (a microplane is an excellent essential for zesting and very fine grating with no white pith which is bitter)
• pinch of saffron steeped for 10 minutes in a tablespoon of boiling water
• 2-3 cups of baby spinach
• 2 French shallots peeled and sliced (1 small onion will do)
• ¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• ¼ cup of toasted pine nuts (slivered almonds would be fantastic also)

Dressing

•  Juice of the small orange or clementine that was zested (about ¼ cup)
• 1 tablespoon honey cider vinegar (red grape is good too)
• ¼ cup light olive oil (or any other light salad oil)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt  (1/2 teaspoon of regular salt)

To Make

1. Roast the pumpkin with a touch of olive oil for about 20 – 30 minutes until golden and tender.
2. Cook the rice according to packet directions, if red rice add to a big pot of boiling water for about 25 minutes until just tender.  Drain and set aside in a big bowl.
3. At this point you can add the orange zest, cranberries and raisins, parsley and saffron and it’s liquid as the hot rice will soak up and absorb the flavours.
4. Steam or boil the zucchini for 3 -5 minutes, it still should have some crunch.  Drain and add to bowl of rice.
5. Fry the onions in a little oil until golden brown and add to rice salad.
6. For the dressing combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until emulsified.  Put half of the dressing over the rice mixture and toss through.
7. Now add the cooked pumpkin and sautéed onions and carefully toss through, taste and if it requires, add some more dressing.
8. Add the spinach and combine with the rice and assemble onto a big white platter.  Alternatively you could place the spinach on the platter and rice on top.
9. Scatter the nuts over the salad and serve.  Happy Christmas (soon)!!

PS – This is fantastic with a baked Salmon.  Just use any leftover dressing or drizzle of olive oil, the remains of the orange, season with salt and pepper, wrap in baking paper (en papiotte) and bake in 170 degree celcius oven (15 min for 2 medium fillets).

*Red Rice is a brown rice with the outer bran layer left on.  This makes it super healthy and full of goodness.