Rice Pilaf
How To Cook Everything: Quick Cooking Copyright 2003
2 tablespoons butter or oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken, beef, vegetable stock, or store-boughr broth, preferable warmed I used beef
Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish
Place the butter or oil in a large, deep skillet which can be covered and turn the heat to medium-high. When the butter melts or the oil is hot, add the onion. Cook,stirring, until the onion softens but does not begin to brown, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the rice all at once, turn the heat to medium, and stir until the rice is glossy-and comp;etely
coatedd with oil or butter, 2 to 3 minutes. Season well, then turn the heat down to low and add
the boiling stock, all at once. Cover the pan.
Cook for 15 minutes, then check the rice. When the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, it's done. If not, cook for 2 to 3 minutes and check again.
Makes 4 servings.
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This recipe did not turn out very well but I believe it was all user error. My son likes to push the button on the mini-chopper and I started out with practically pureed onion. I think this prevented the butter from coating the rice properly. Then I decided it needed more liquid and ended up stirring this way too much because I had a 2 1/2 year old at my feet, screaming for his rice. This came out mushy and I wasn't crazy about the flavors (predominately onion and black pepper).
I know that Mark Bittman is much reverred by some for his cookbook, How To Cook Everything, but I must admit that I pass up that book each and every time I go to the library. I'm not sure why. It has no pictures yet that doesn't usually stop me from checking out a library book. For whatever reason, the book has never come home with me.
It seems that they have broken down the original How To Cook Everything into smaller books. When I saw this book in Ollie's for just $3.99, I bought it. I was very much in the quick cooking mood while I was picking out books that day. I think Ollie's had other books from this collection but this is the only one I picked up.
This is a nice collection of quick recipes, recipes that don't rely heavily on convenience products. The recipes aren't outlandish - I've probably seen each and everyone of them somewhere else, but they aren't all ordinary and boring either. This recipe wasn't too exciting but it seemed like it would be a step up from boiled rice (althought I'm not sure it turned out that way). It accompanied Easy Spiced Italian Pork, a recipe I couldn't wait to make again. I had to make it on the GF grill but it was still really good.
Question of the Day: What are some of the ways you prepare rice?
6 comments:
My favourite is to wash then soak basmati rice. Heat a bit of olive oil and a small pat of butter in a skillet. Add the soaked rice and stir well. Toast the rice until it is fragrant, then add 1 1/2 cups salted water. Bring to boiling, reduce to low and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat. Wait 5 minutes, fluff, then serve.
If we want more flavour I use chicken broth instead of water and I add garlic and onion powder and crush some saffron in my mortar and pestel to add colour. Add chunks of skinless boneless chicken to cook with the rice and DD and DH are in heaven.
I really don't cook rice much. We did have it with chili last night - chili-beans-rice cooked together. It's something we have every now and then - a regular.
When our oldest son was home, he asked for rice with gravy, often.
My husband is not a fan of rice, and I can take it or leave it, as can everyone else in the family (I think.), so chili-rice-beans is the only thing I use it for any more.
Ever since I got an electric stove, I can't seem to cook rice correctly anymore. The burner gets extremely hot and when the rice starts to boil and I lower the temp, it takes forever to cool down and the rice continues to boil for a while. The result is sticky and gooey.
I have eve tried to compensate by heating another burner on low and then swithching it over once it starts to boil, but somehow it still turns out wrong.
So now I have been eating the Uncle Ben's Ready Rice. It cooks in 90 seconds in the microwave. They even sell brown rice, which I try to eat more often than white. I've never tried the flavored ones because the sodium content is through the roof.
Being Armenian, I make rice pilaf. Its the recipe from my grandmothers - just butter, rice, orzo, chicken broth. I love making batsmati rice, and of course on occassion its fun to make risotto!
I make Mexican rice: Fry one cup of dry rice in some oil until it starts to turn white; add 1/3 to 1/2 cup to tomato sauce (depending on how tomatoey you like it) then add water so you have 2 cups of liquid. Add a little chicken boullion, chopped onion, garlic, and salt to taste. Bring to boil, cover, turn down low, cook for 20 minutes and stand for 5.
Most of the time the bottom burns because of the tomato sauce but every once in a while I get it to turn out just right. If there are any leftovers, I'll have rice and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Yum!
We love rice at our house; my daughter favorite meal is rice with a side of broccoli.
Oh I forgot...I made the spiced pork chops...they were FANTASTIC! We had that and the broccoli-orzo, also very good. I passed both recipes on to my SIL.
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