Minnesota’s passion for wild rice was evident in the results of the Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council’s 2018 “Get Wild With Wild Rice” recipe contest, as home-state chefs made a clean sweep of both the Grand Prize and People’s Choice awards.

Natalie Yarbrough of Minnetonka took home the Grand Prize with her Asian-inspired Chicken Thai Wild Rice With Peanut Sauce, while Sharon Holland of St. Louis Park won the coveted People’s Choice award with her Chicken Gone Wild.

The “Get Wild with Wild Rice” recipe contest continues to grow in popularity, according to the council. It attracted more recipes this year than ever before, and from every corner of the country — from California to Connecticut and from Alaska to Florida. Traditional, creative and often unusual wild rice recipes were submitted in the categories of appetizers, soups, salads, entrées, sides and desserts, demonstrating the great taste and versatility of wild rice.

TREASURE INSIDE: Chicken Gone Wild wins the People’s Choice award in the Get Wild With Wild Rice recipe contest. It comes from Sharon Holland of St. Louis Park, Minn.

‘Delicious flavor, dynamic textures’
Recipes went head to head in a taste test conducted by culinary specialists, who narrowed the field to 11 finalists competing for two awards. The Grand Prize was awarded by a panel of judges headed by chef Ken Goff. The People’s Choice award was given to the finalist garnering the most online votes during September, National Rice Month.

For the Grand Prize-winning recipe, Goff, a Twin Cities executive chef known for his regional cuisine and teaching aspiring chefs at Le Cordon Bleu, led a panel of judges in selecting Yarbrough’s Chicken Thai Wild Rice With Peanut Sauce. Goff noted the dish was “packed with delicious flavors and dynamic textures.”

Yarbrough, a physical therapist and marathon runner, started working on her Grand Prize-winning recipe a month before the contest opened.

“I think ethnic cooking is big right now,” Yarbrough says. “Thai cuisine and Indian cuisine are becoming more popular. People are becoming more experimental in choosing foods and getting out of the normal hamburger-and-hot-dog-type of diet. So, I decided it probably would be best to try something new.”

Her recipe as written is not spicy, she points out, but is versatile enough that spices can easily be added.

Repeat winner
This is actually Holland’s second People’s Choice award, as she also won in 2015 with her Wild Bacon-Bleu Stuffed Filet Mignon recipe, and went on to earn a top 10 finish in the World Food Championships later that year. This year, Holland came up with Chicken Gone Wild, an original dish featuring chicken breasts stuffed with wild rice, vegetables and chopped bacon.

“It’s a great recipe because you can double it using eight chicken breasts to fill a 9- by 13-inch pan,” she says. “It takes two-and-a-half hours to bake, so you can clean your house, set the table or make your side dishes — and you’ve got a whole meal without those last-minute preparations.”

View the recipes at Chicken Thai Wild Rice With Peanut Sauce and Chicken Gone Wild.

The council’s latest recipe brochure, “Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Recipes,” which includes answers to often-asked questions, features contest-winning recipes and other wild rice favorites, including soups, appetizers, salads, entrées and side dishes.

To receive your free copy, send a self-addressed, stamped-envelope to: Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council, Newest Recipes, 4630 Churchill St., No. 1, St. Paul, MN 55126.

Source: Minnesota Cultivated Wild Rice Council