Wild and White Rice Stuffing with Pearl Onions and Dried Fruit (Recipe, Pareve)

Wild and White Rice Stuffing with Pearl Onions and Dried Fruit P SERVES: 10

What a delicious alternative to bread stuffing! The caramelized onions, apricots and cranberries give a wonderful flavor to the rice mixture. Serve this with turkey, Cornish hens or plain chicken.  Your guests will all want seconds.

Prep time: 20 min.  Cooking time: 45-60 min.

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces wild rice

1 ½ cups long grain white rice

4 ½ cups vegetable broth

3 tablespoons dried thyme

16 ounces frozen white pearl onions- defrosted and drained

6 tablespoons pareve margarine

6 ounce package dried apricots- sliced into 3-4 pieces each

1 cup dried cranberries

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Add broth and 2 tablespoons thyme to saucepan. Bring to a boil and add wild rice. Stir once and return to a boil. Cover pan, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
2. After wild rice has been cooking 30 minutes, add white rice. Stir once. Cover saucepan and simmer until almost all the liquid has been absorbed. This should take about 15-20 minutes .
3. Prepare onions while rice is cooking. Melt 2 tablespoons margarine in skillet over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until browned- about 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove cover from saucepan and stir rice. Add sautéed onions (with remaining margarine from skillet), apricots and cranberries to mixed rice. Stir well. Taste. Add thyme, salt and pepper as needed.  Add the remaining four tablespoons of margarine to the stuffing before you spoon it into a serving dish if you are serving the stuffing right away. Otherwise, allow stuffing to cool completely, and then refrigerate it. Add the margarine to the stuffing  right before you heat it up. Serve hot.