My current favorite is Brown Basmati Rice and Black Beans. As soon as I get home, I start the rice, which takes about 45 minutes to cook. Then, after feeding the pets and pouring a glass of wine, I start the beans. This is where whatever is in my refrigerator comes into play. If I’ve got garlic and green onions, I chop them and sauté them in a little olive oil. If I’ve got a jalapeno pepper, I seed and chop it and add it to the sauté. Then I add a can of black beans (rinsed and drained). In last night’s version, I warmed the beans in about a half cup of vegetable broth and added about a tablespoon of Sriracha sauce, a bottled sauce made from ground chilies and garlic. Once the rice is done, I spoon it into soup bowls, add the beans, top them with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese, and voilà, dinner is served.
Do you have any standby dinners you make with whatever is on hand? I’d be really glad to see some (and I bet my husband would be glad, too).
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Cold Rice
Leftover Chinese rice seems to be a staple in my fridge. It’s not that we order take-out Chinese that much, it’s just that its shelf life is amazingly long. And good thing too, as a number of recipes require cold rice (because it’s not sticky or mushy). Although it may seem redundant, I usually make stir-fried rice with it. One of the things I learned from a famous Chinese chef (whose name eludes me at the moment) is not to douse it with soy sauce. In fact a tablespoon is plenty. Here’s what I do; sauté green onion and garlic in a little sesame oil. Add cold rice, diced carrot and chunks of leftover pork or chicken or tofu. Stir-fry until heated through. Scramble in an egg or two, then a splash of soy sauce, salt and pepper. Another thing I do is make a quick rice pudding. Combine 2-3 cups whole or 2% milk with about 1 ½ cups cold rice, ½ cup sugar and a splash of vanilla. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened, at which point you can enrich it with an egg or two if you like. Eat hot or cold. And lastly I make rice salad. The original recipe came from a vegetarian cookbook by Jean Lemlin. I’ve toyed with it plenty and have come to realize that you really can’t ruin this formula. Combine 2 cups cold rice, chopped red bell pepper, garbanzo beans, parsley, chopped basil, oil and vinegar and feta cheese. Sometimes I use the Good Seasons Italian salad dressing (that I make from the mix, which is my favorite salad dressing), and sometimes I add garlic.
Now on to the brown bananas, that have a permanent place in my fruit bowl. Ideas anyone?
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At taste testing the other day, we had this rice dish, which precipitated a discussion on rice and how there really is an art to making good rice. The very next day I had a rice epiphany. In the course of judging cookbooks for an international awards competition, I made a Turkish rice dish called Orzo Pilav. It was the best rice I’ve ever had, and it made me realize that there are a few tricks (and rules) that will make your rice better. Here they are:
1. Use the right kind of rice for the dish (or the kind of rice specified in the recipe). Short grain Arborio, high in starch makes a creamy risotto, short grain sticky white rice for sushi etc, and for fluffy rice, a basmati or long- grain rice.
2. It really does pay to rinse the rice, a step I’ve skipped more often than not. Rinsing the rice eliminates the starch, making the rice fluffier.
3. “Browning the dry rice in butter “toasts” it, producing a nutty flavor and fluffier texture.
3. Simmering it in chicken broth (instead of water) will produce better flavor.
4. Cook it covered until little steam holes appear in the rice. Then recover, and do not disturb until ready to fluff with a fork and serve.
Everyday Orzo Pilav
Here is an interesting recipe that I adapted from the book Turquoise, A Chef’s Travels in Turkey, by Greg and Lucy Malouf. According to them, cooking rice with little broken bits of vermicelli noodles is commonplace in the Middle East. In Turkey they were fascinated to see them use orzo pasta in place of the noodles. Browning the orzo and rice in the butter produces a brown nutty flavor that’s exceptional. I have even added garlic a time or two. You won’t look at rice the same way again.
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken stock, hot
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
¼ cup orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
pinch of sea salt
Soak the rice in cold water until the starch is removed and the water runs clear. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the orzo and sauté, stirring continuously until the butter foams and the orzo turns brown, being careful not to burn the butter. Add the drained rice and stir until all grains are coated with the butter. Add the hot chicken stock and salt. Bring to a boil, cover reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. You will see little holes in surface of rice. Remove pan from heat and let stand 10-15 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve.
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