Per requests, here is my favorite Thanksgiving side dish...and you can support the Native Americans who hold the monopoly on Wild Rice cultivation in the United States by making it at your house this Thanksgiving!
Wild Rice, Mushroom, Carmelized Onions, and Dried Cranberries
(Serves 4, easily doubled, etc.)
4 oz. of pure Wild Rice grown in Minnesota (no wild rice mix or blend, although if you must, it works well with that, too)
1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
Rinse rice until water runs clear; soak rice for an hour in room temp water, and drain.
Put chicken stock in saucepan to boil and then add the drained rice...cover with lid, reduce heat to simmer for 50-60 minutes, shut off heat, let rice continue to sit in the pot with the lid on for another half hour to steam.
While the rice is cooking:
Slice 8 oz. fresh portabella mushrooms and saute in a large skillet with 1 Tablespoon butter until they are cooked as you like them, remove from pan and set aside.
In the same skillet, cut 2 medium yellow onions into wedges, and saute with 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar on medium heat until soft and carmelized (takes about 40 minutes usually). After the onions are carmelized, add 1/2 cup dried cranberries. Add the cooked mushrooms and the cooked wild rice into the pan and mix all ingredients until well distributed. (I tend to cook with less salt, and if there is salt in the broth, this is probably enough, but you can add additional salt if you feel it needs it.)
You can make all this, put it into a covered casserole dish and reheat it in the oven when you need it if you want to prepare it ahead. I have also microwaved it to reheat it with good results...not too long.