Wild rice and quinoa pilaf with pecans, green onions and cranberries

Preparation

Baking Directions:

Combine the wild rice, 1 1/2 cups of the broth, the red onion, and bay leaf in a large pot, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat (just about 2 minutes).

Then cover the pot and turn the heat to low.

Cook the ricebroth mix for about 20 minutes, until the rice soaks up all the liquid, checking it and stirring it every so often to make sure the rice doesn't burn.

Then pull the pot off the heat and let it sit, tightly covered, for 5 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, combine the quinoa with the remaining 1 1/2 cups broth in a small pot, and cook it in the same way you cooked the rice: bring it to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and let it sit.

The quinoa will cook faster: it only needs about 10 minutes to soak up all the broth.

While the rice and the quinoa are cooking, toast the pecans in a small dry pan over very low heat, tossing or mixing them around occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until they brown and crisp up, releasing their aroma.

Make sure you keep the heat very low so the nuts don't burn.

When they're toasted, rough-chop them using a large kitchen knife.

Put some water on to boil in a small pot or a tea kettle.

Put the tea bag and the cranberries in a bowl, and pour 1/2 cup of the boiling water over them.

Add the whiskey and let the mixture steep for 4 minutes, so the tea brews.

Then pull the tea bag out and keep steeping the cranberries until they plump up (about 15 minutes).

When the rice is ready, pull the bay leaf out and throw it away.

Add the cranberries and half their liquid (1/4 cup) to the rice, along with the nuts, green onions, salt, pepper, and quinoa.

If you're using the butter, throw it in here, too.

Stir everything together well (if you're using the butter, make sure it melts in completely).

Pour the pilaf into a large serving dish and serve it right away.