My Favorite New Rice

Since Natty has been groovin' on rice, I've been looking for ways to a) enjoy rice and b) prepare rice without burning it. Rachel Ray made this rice on her show one day and it looked interesting, so I thought I'd steal the method. Turns out it's my new favorite. A nice bonus is that it's super easy to change the spices and veggies to match whatever you're serving it with. 


Yummy Rice
2 tblsp olive oil (or butter)
1/2 cup orzo
1 cup rice (I went with quick cook brown rice)
salt and pepper

1-2 cups veggies depending on how you want to balance the dish. I have used onion, banana pepper, zucchini, broccoli, and peas in different versions.

1 tblsp spices to match your main course. Cumin and crushed red pepper for Mexican, basil, garlic, and oregano for Italian, saffron and paprika for Spanish.
2 1/2 cups stock or broth
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add orzo to oil and lightly toast. Add rice, veggies, spice, and season with salt and pepper. Add broth, reduce heat to medium low, and cover. Cook 15 minutes, until rice is tender.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Langostino

I normally don't post recipe variations, but this one was particularly yummy, so I thought I'd throw it out there. 


Here's the base recipe. Then: 

Remove the mushrooms and the thyme.


Substitute champagne for white wine and vegetable stock for chicken stock.


Add 1 1/2 cups butternut squash and 1 1/2 cups langostino (pre-cooked). I also meant to grate some fresh nutmeg over the whole thing once it was done, but I forgot. You might try it though.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

This was supposed to be our Meat Free Monday dinner, which ended up being meat free Tuesday, which ended up being way to chaotic to accommodate anything that was going to take an hour in the oven, so it ultimately became our regular old Thursday night dinner. Thanks to Amanda for the idea! 


Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
1 package boil in bag brown rice
4 cloves garlic, chopped
handful basil, sliced
4-5 small/medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 large zucchini, chopped (and sautéed in olive oil)
1/4 jar leftover pasta sauce
3 large bell peppers
1/4 cup grated provolone cheese
Mix all ingredients up to the bell peppers together. Stuff peppers with rice mixture. Place in baking dish in a 350 oven. Cook for 30 minutes. Top with cheese. Cook until cheese is melted and lightly browned (15-20 minutes). Enjoy!

Rice with Cheese

This was a last minute change when I decided that just plain brown rice would be too boring. I needed to do something quick to dress it up.


Rice with Cheese
1 batch brown rice
1 handful parsley, chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 chunk (about palm size) goat cheese (mine was chive and garlic flavored)
Cook brown rice. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Gruel

Gruel is basically what I call any dinner made out of the assorted leftovers in the house. The basic formula is fresh or frozen veggies + cooked meat + something to create sauce + rice product. It's also nice since it uses only one pan and combines all your major food groups. I'm sure it's not worthy of posting, but since it was quite tasty, I figured, what the heck! This variation leaned Italian, which isn't surprising since basically everything that sounds appealing to me during this pregnancy is Italian, but you can make it take on whatever flavoring you are in the mood for by adjusting the sauce you create and the seasoning.


Gruel
olive oil
1/2 lb browned turkey
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 small red onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large can chopped tomatoes
Handful fresh basil and parsley, chopped
Crushed red pepper
1 batch brown rice (I go for the boil in bag variety since I have some sort of block about cooking rice)
In a large skillet, heat olive oil and brown turkey. Add zucchini, onion, and garlic and let brown lightly. Add tomatoes, stir to combine, and let simmer for a few minutes. Add basil, parsley, red pepper (to taste), and rice. Stir to combine and adjust seasonings.

Dressing up Ham Steak

After a crazy day, I had about 5 minutes to make dinner before everyone in my house, including me, had a breakdown about how hungry we all were. Ham steak to the rescue! I also made another attempt at getting Natty to eat veggies, but apparently rice isn't his thing... Stinker.

Ham Steak with Mustard Sauce
1 ham steak
1/4 medium onion sliced
1/4 cup white wine
1 heaping tblsp course ground mustard (by tblsp here, I mean one of the regular spoons out of the drawer, so it was probably more like 2 tblsps if you're actually measuring)
Cook ham steak in skillet over medium high heat until browned. Remove from skillet. Toss in onions and let brown for a minute. Add wine and deglaze pan. Add mustard and combine. Remove from heat.

Cheesy Rice
1 package instant brown rice
1 large carrot chopped into 1 inch chunks
milk or water
1/4 medium onion chopped
1 handful shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook rice according to package directions. Add carrot to water while rice is cooking. Drain rice and carrot. Place rice in serving dish. Puree carrot in food processor with a small amount of milk or water to help it along. Saute onion. Add pureed carrot, sauteed onion, and cheese to rice and stir to combine.

Risotto

It's rainy and cold. It's been rainy and cold for days. Risotto has become one of my favorite comfort foods and it is perfect for cold, rainy days. I don't think risotto is as difficult as some people would like to make it sound, but it's also not the kind of thing you should make if you don't have time to be in the kitchen for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Also, once you have the method down, you can use any combo of additions you like. Leftover veggies are great to use - just add them at the end (where I added peas).

Mushroom and Leek Risotto
2 tblsp olive oil
2 leeks sliced
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 portobella mushrooms sliced
1 pt button mushrooms sliced
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
4-6 cups chicken broth
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 cup parmesan cheese
Heat chicken broth over low heat. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until tender. Add garlic, mushrooms, and thyme. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Salt and pepper. Add arborio rice and cook until coated with the liquid from the mushrooms. Add white wine and stir until wine is absorbed. Add broth one cup at a time, stirring after each addition. Stir periodically until broth is absorbed. The rice will develop a creamy texture as it cooks. Stirring is important to developing the texture, but it is not necessary to stir non-stop. Once the rice is cooked through, add the peas. Turn off the heat and stir in the parmesan. Serve immediately.