The Good Life – November-December 2023

The last piece to the holiday
meal puzzle is a hotdish with
either small game or pheasant.
Melanie makes a wonderful
wild rice hotdish. On my
annual archery deer camp in
northwestern Wisconsin, I
always pick up a few pounds of
wild rice, and she turns it into a
mouthwatering dish.
WILD RICE
HOTDISH
She starts out by cutting
the pheasant into chunks.
If using squirrel or rabbit,
she will first pressure
cook the quarters.
Once cooked, the meat
is easily shredded into
strips.
She makes a mixture of
half wild rice and half
jasmine rice and cooks it
in the Instant Pot.
Once both are cooked,
she will cut up green
beans, onions and green
peppers.
After adding it all
together, she puts a can of
cream of celery soup and
simmers it on the stove
for around 20 minutes.
The cold afternoons in the
deer stand, the long walks in
the sun-cured autumn cattails
and mornings around the frigid
springtime river all pay off with
a delectable holiday feast. I’ve
found that the enjoyment of
the meal is a direct result of
the difficulty of gathering the
ingredients. This year, grace
your table with a taste of the
wild! •
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