EASY RECIPE

Norwegio is back with an easy recipe for fish with wild rice that is perfect for that special meal for two. His step by step recipe is easy to follow and is a proven favorite!

Denny’s Wild Rice w/fish

 Ingredients:      (for 2 servings)

½ cup of wild rice                                                                                                        

1 cup of chicken or beef stock or broth

2 garlic cloves (minced)                                             

2 stalks of chopped celery

1 yellow or red pepper (chopped)                            

¼ cup chopped onion

1 can of water chestnuts                                             

1/8 cup of shredded fresh basil                     

2 cups of sliced mushrooms                                      

salt and pepper

½ cup of cashews 

2 walleye or tilapia filets                                               

Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Magic  

Cooking Directions:

Place 3 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Add the wild rice, cover allow to simmer and cook until tender.  Drain off excess water or add more water as you cook to get desired result.

1. When the rice is cooking, place the stock or broth into a fry pan, turn on medium heat and sauté the mushrooms, onion, celery, peppers, garlic, and water chestnuts.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook for about 20 minutes.  
2. Lightly brush your fish filets with olive oil.  Sprinkle Redfish Magic (or blackened seasoning of your choice) on each side of filet.  Place in a cast iron skillet that you have pre-heated on medium high.  (Do not put oil in skillet).  Cook for 3-5 minutes per side. 
3. When rice is done add it to ingredients you are cooking in the sauté pan and cover.  Add cashews and basil.  Cover and cook on very low heat for another 5 minutes.

 Serving Directions:

Make a bed of wild rice on each serving plate, and place fish on top of the rice bed.    

AND STUFF 

Rice and Rainbows

For years, my brother, Denny, kept our entire family supplied with wild rice.  He had a source and each year at Christmas he would pass a three year supply along to us — regardless whether we needed it or not. He was a man of many talents, outweighed only by his generosity and thoughtfulness.  I spoke to him one night at 8:30 p.m.  Nothing special – just conversation.  “Talk to you tomorrow” was how I ended the call.  But, what he and I did not know, was that there was no tomorrow for him.  He died suddenly of a heart attack just three hours later. 

A month later our grieving family was gathered for my mom’s 80^th birthday celebration.  Most of the family were there and tried to make less sad, a happy occasion.  Denny’s daughter, Charity, attended and had searched hard to find just the right card to give to my mom, her grandmother.  Sensitive to her grandmother’s grief, she found a card she really liked, but was torn since it said “To the Greatest Mom and Grandmother”.  We had shed enough tears already and she wanted this to be a happy occasion.  While in the card shop, she fumbled again and again with this card, each time returning it to the rack to keep searching.  Not finding another she liked quite as well, she finally gave in and bought this card.  When Charity arrived home she again found herself struggling with that choice and her doubts because of the words “Greatest Mom“.   As she sat deliberating, she looked up above and said “Dad, should I give your mom this card?”  Minutes later the skies opened up and it rained hard.  Immediately, a glorious rainbow appeared. Charity went outside to appreciate the beauty of it and took the sudden appearance of the rainbow as a message from her dad that she was doing the right thing by giving that particular card.  She then took a picture of the rainbow, printed it and placed it in the card, explaining within the card how she wrestled with this decision and how the rainbow appeared after she asked her dad that question.  The next day she presented the card to my mom.  The story brought tearful smiles to the family.  Within a half hour another granddaughter, just 5 years old, ran in to the house and said “Charity! Charity! Come quick!”  Everyone followed Charity outside and there in the sky was a spectacular rainbow gracing my mom’s party.  There were goose bumps, chills and more tears as everyone gazed at the rainbow and recalled the story Charity had just recited and the message Charity felt she had received.

I was unable to attend this birthday party as I was 200 miles away with my kids and wife at a long planned fishing excursion at a place where my brother, Denny, and I had made countless fishing trips in both winter and summer.  The next day, I called my mom to see how the gathering had fared.  My mom relayed to me the “rainbow story” and after I hung up the phone a chill went through my spine.  I gathered my family and told them the story and they were in silent awe.  No sooner did I finish speaking than a beautiful rainbow appeared directly in front of our cabin.  We all stared and it disappeared as quickly as it came.  Now we all had goose bumps and chills.  We agreed that Denny was up there snickering, as if he were saying that “he finally found us” and that we should have let him know sooner that we weren’t going to be at mom’s party . . .

No one in our family will ever look at a rainbow again without thinking of Denny.  Nor will I ever eat wild rice without thinking of my brother.  In his memory (and to use up all that wild rice I still had) I created this dish. I hope you enjoy it and that rainbows will abound in your life. 

Good Eating and Table Talk,

Norwegio

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