Wild-Rice Salad with Spiced Pepitas, Sun-Dried Cranberries and Apple-Cider Vinaigrette

YIELD: 12 SERVINGS

1 lb. Grade A wild rice
2 qts. chicken stock
3 oz. apple-cider vinegar
3 oz. vegetable oil
4 oz. pepitas (pumpkin seeds) toasted in oil with salt, paprika and chile powder
½ cup toasted pine nuts
1 bunch scallions, green part only, sliced on bias
2 carrots, julienned
3 oz. sun-dried cranberries
Salt and pepper, as needed
Watercress, as needed

1. Prepare wild rice according to package directions using chicken stock. Let cool.

2. For the vinaigrette: Combine vinegar and oil. Set aside.

3. To cooled rice, add spiced pepitas, pine nuts, scallion, carrot and cranberries. Blend in vinaigrette Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Spoon wild-salad into a large serving bowl. Garnish with watercress. Reserve under refrigeration until service or serve at room temperature, family style.

Recipe: Bruce Barnes, executive chef, Restaurant Associates for the Mitsitam Native Foods Café at The Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. Photo: Indian Harvest Specialtifoods, Inc.