Brown and Wild Rice Salad with Dried Cranberries

This is from the legendary Delia Smith. I served it with Salmon with couscous crust & tomato and olive salsa, and it was a delicious and light summer meal.

Ingredients >     120 ml brown basmati rice (I used red rice and it was also tasty) >     55 ml wild rice >     25 gm dried cranberries >     2 tsp flavourless oil (sorry, I used olive, which has flavour, and it still was tasty) >     25 gm walnuts, roughly chopped >     2 medium and ripe tomatoes >     4 cm of cucumber (more if cucumber is narrow – think of a British cuc’s size), diced >    1 small, red-skinned apple, cored and finely chopped >     2 spring onions, finely chopped (or 2 shallots, finely chopped, and snipped chives) >     Salt and freshly milled black pepper Dressing >     1 clove garlic, peeled >     ½ tsp salt >     ½ tsp mustard powder >     1 ½ Tbsp good-quality white wine vinegar >     3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil >     Freshly milled black pepper

Steps 1.    Heat 1 tsp oil in a small pan, add the wild rice and toss it around to coat the grains. 2.    Pour over 120 ml boiling water and add a little salt. Give it one stir, put on the lid, and turn down the heat to the lowest flame. Cook for 50 minutes. 3.   Same procedure for the brown rice. In a large pot use 225 ml water and cook for 40 minutes. 4.   While the rice is cooking, prepare the dressing. a.   Crush the garlic and salt, and then add the mustard powder. b.   Use a whisk to add the, vinegar, olive oil, and plenty of black pepper. 5.   Heat the oven to 180 degrees C, spread the walnuts on a baking sheet, and place them in the oven for 8 minutes. Put a timer on so that they are not burnt. 6.   Place the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, so that they are covered, and leave for exactly one minute. Remove them from the water and peel of the skins. 7.   Halve the tomatoes and squeeze out the seeds. Then chop them into small pieces. 8.   When both types of rice are cooked, mix them together in a serving dish and add 2 – 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Make sure that the dressing is well incorporated and leave the rice to cool. 9.   When cool, mix in the cucumber, tomatoes, apple, cranberries and either 2/3 of the spring onions, or the shallots. 10.  Drizzle the remaining dressing over the salad and make sure that everything is thoroughly combined and coated in dressing. 11.  Finally, scatter the walnuts and the remaining spring onions (or chopped chives) over the top.