If fall celebrations mean roasting a bird and eating until you’re stuffed, this recipe just might be for you!  We’ve left out the bread, and instead chosen a mixture of steel cut oats and rice to make a flavourful base for this stuffing.  We were inspired by ‘skirlie’, a traditional scottish method of preparing savoury oatmeal, and our own apple/cranberry salad recipe.  High-bush cranberries are best picked after the first frost (but before they are ‘discovered’ by too many birds), so this is the perfect time, but commercial cranberries can be used instead instead.

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Ingredients:

3/4 cup wild rice

3/4 cup steel cut naked oats

2-3 stalks celery

1 large onion

1 large apple

1/2 cup cranberries

chicken broth (1/2 to 3/4 cup or enough to moisten)

Salt, pepper, thyme, sage, and oregano

 

Directions:

Cook the wild rice in boiling water until the kernels are soft (about 40 minutes).  Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.

Roast the steel cut oats in a frying pan until the oats start to brown and smell nutty.  Pour 1 cup boiling water over the oats and let sit for 2-3 minutes.  Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.

Sautee the onion and celery in butter or oil until soft.

Combine all ingredients together and season to taste.

Stuff inside your chosen bird (chicken or turkey…lovingly raised…thankfully eaten…).

Some extra thyme, sage, and oregano sprinkled over the bird makes it extra flavorful as well!

 

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