Jasper J. Mirabile Jr., chef/owner of Jasper’s in Kansas City, recently won Indian Harvest’s Go Wild! Summer Recipe Contest with his signature Summertime Roasted Chicken with Cherry & Almond Wild Rice. For his winning dish, Mirabile receives a case of Indian Harvest Wild Rice and $100 cash.
Indian Harvest challenged Facebook fans to create a summer menu application featuring the company’s Grade A Wild Rice. Original recipes serving at least four were evaluated on their seasonality, flavor, marketability and practicality in professional kitchens.
“I wanted to put an Italian spin on wild rice, plus add seasonality to the mix,” says Mirabile, who infused the family-style dish with the heady hint of amaretto and the sweetness of sun-splashed Bing cherries.
Wild rice is no stranger to the menu at Jasper’s, whose Scampi alla Livornese has been a year-round favorite for 57 years. “It’s really Pimontese, but the printer made a mistake back in 1954, and my father couldn’t afford to get it reprinted,” Mirabile says. “It’s one of our most popular dishes, and one of the only recipes my father insisted that we not share.” Sauteed shrimp is tossed in a sherry-laced cream sauce and served over a bed of wild rice. “My father was going to do it over risotto, but back in the ʾ50s, not many folks here knew what that was. He served it with wild rice, instead, and we’ve never looked back. It’s a huge seller.”
Wild rice is the cornerstone of Indian Harvest’s founding more than 30 years ago. Today the company offers quality wild rices in five grades plus Traditional Hand Harvested Wild Rice and new Organic Wild Rice to meet any application and budget for menu and product development.
Posted By Kristin 7/6/2011
