Wild Rice and Squash Pilaf

The week between Thanksgiving and Advent. The garden is mostly down. The hard frost killed the last of the tender stuff. The kale and collards are tougher and sweeter for the cold — frost makes brassicas convert starches to sugars, and the difference is striking, the leaves becoming almost candied if you let them. I'm harvesting kale a couple of leaves at a time, twice a week. It'll keep producing into January if the snow holds off.

December meal planning has begun. Hannah and I talked about Christmas at the kitchen table Sunday. Kai, Danielle, and Tommy are coming. Luna is coming with Cole. River is coming with Lucia. Caleb. Terry. Lily and Ben and Ada and Quoy. That's fourteen people for Christmas at Kenwood — a record. The house is technically big enough but we'll need to set up a spillover table on the porch with heaters. I'll weld the heater stands tomorrow. They're a thing I've been meaning to make.

Tuesday I drove to Tahlequah for the cultural center stabilizers — I'd finished them in the workshop the week before. Hung four of them on the older graves, drilled into the back of the markers and anchored to a new steel base buried two feet down. The stones won't lean any more. The work took most of the day. Linda Walkingstick brought me coffee at noon. We sat on a stone bench and drank it. She said: my grandfather is buried here, you know. I said: I didn't. She said: third row, west side. I said: I'll set his stone too if it needs it. She said: it doesn't. I said: I'll check anyway. I checked. It didn't. But she watched me check, and she nodded when I came back, and the nod was thanks.

Caleb Saturday. We worked on the heater stands together — he held the steel while I welded. He's gotten better at the holding part of welding, which is its own skill, the timing of it, the steadiness, the knowing when to brace and when to let the heat move. We finished four heater stands. Brought them to the porch. Tested one of them with a cylinder propane heater I had in the workshop. It worked. The porch will be heated for Christmas. Hannah won't have to apologize to Cole, who will probably not be cold anyway because he's a teacher in Tahlequah and not a delicate man, but Hannah likes to over-engineer for guests, and I like to support that.

Quoy came over Sunday. We finished the acorn-cutting blade — handle wrapped in leather, blade tempered, edge ground, the whole thing about eight inches long. He held it. He said: this is for my mother. I said: she's going to cry when she opens it. He said: she's going to laugh first and then cry. I said: that's Lily. He laughed. He drove back to NSU with the blade wrapped in cloth in a box on the passenger seat. He's a good kid. He's becoming a good man.

With fourteen people coming to Kenwood for Christmas — heater stands welded, porch ready, kale still coming in from the garden — I wanted something on the table that felt like the season actually tasted: earthy and a little sweet, the way frost-kissed squash and wild rice are together. Wild rice has always felt like the right grain for this stretch of the year, and this pilaf is the kind of thing that holds on a buffet line, feeds a crowd without fuss, and reminds you why you went to all the trouble of setting up a spillover table in the first place.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups wild rice, rinsed
3 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

Cook the wild rice. Combine rinsed wild rice and broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45–50 minutes until the rice is tender and most grains have split open. Drain any excess liquid and set aside.
Roast the squash. While the rice cooks, preheat oven to 400°F. Toss squash cubes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, a pinch of smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and roast 20–25 minutes, turning once, until tender and lightly caramelized at the edges.
Sauté the aromatics. Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet or wide saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook 5–6 minutes until softened and translucent. Add garlic, thyme, and sage; cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Combine. Add the cooked wild rice to the skillet with the onion mixture. Stir in the roasted squash, dried cranberries, and toasted nuts. Toss gently to combine — you want the squash to hold its shape. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Finish and serve. Transfer to a serving dish or keep warm in the skillet over very low heat. Scatter chopped parsley over the top just before serving. This pilaf holds well and can be made a day ahead — reheat covered with a splash of broth to restore moisture.

Nutrition (per serving)

Wild Rice and Squash Pilaf — Something Warm for Fourteen at the Table