Delightful spring and summer rice salad

This salad is light, tangy, and refreshingly delightful! You can serve it up fresh and warm, or you can make it ahead and refrig it for the hottest days. Potentially, it could be the basis for a whole-meal salad, if you added more rice and a source of protein, like beans or fish. Here’s the recipe for it as a side salad:

Wild Rice Salad with Pecans and Oranges

2-1/4 c water
1 c wild rice (I like Trader Joe’s)
1/4 c olive oil
Salt

1 c pecan halves (toasted if you have time)
2 oranges
6-8 scallions, white part only, chopped
1/2 c dried golden raisins
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2-3 T fresh mint leaves, chopped
Lemon

Bring the water to a boil and add the rice; reduce heat and cover, simmering for about 25 to 30 minutes. While it cooks, toast the pecans and set aside (optional, but nice). Grate the zest of one of the oranges into a large salad bowl. Cut the orange in two and add the juice. Add the chopped scallions through the mint leaves. Add the juice of the lemon. Peel and section the other orange, cut each piece into thirds and set aside.

Pour off any water that didn’t absorb into the wild rice. Add the olive oil and salt and mix together. Now you can either add the rice to the salad bowl immediately or let it cool off (in the fridge) until ready to serve. Mix the rice with the fruit mixture, add the pecans and orange pieces, and serve.