Wild And Brown Rice With Cranberries and Pecans

The perfect companion to fowl or game.  It also makes for a great stuffing!

Serves 6-8

Hands-On Time: 20m
Total Time: 1hr 25m

Ingredients

1 32-ounce container low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup wild rice

1 1/4 brown rice

1 stick unsalted butter, plus more for the dish

1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh sage, finely chopped

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1 cup dried apricots or cranberries, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper


Directions

1.Heat oven to 350° F.

2.In a pot, over medium-high heat, bring the broth and 1 cup* water to a boil. Add the wild rice and brown rice, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer until tender, about 45 minutes.

3.Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cooked rice, parsley, sage, pecans, apricots or cranberries, salt, and pepper and toss. Transfer to a buttered casserole. Cover and bake for 25 minutes.

*This recipe originally called for 2 cups of water.  I suggest you use one and if towards the end you notice the rice is still hard, slowly add the other, little by little. You might not need to add the whole cup.


Adapted from Real Simple

Zucchini Rice With Red Pepper, Onions And Lemon Balm

This big guy rendered a tomato zucchini casserole for eight over the 4th of July and recently we had this delightful rice with sauteed scallops.  What more can you ask for? Well, another meal for four and a wonderful cold paella for an evening on the lake!

I was horrified a couple of days ago to find the butt end of this zucchini sitting in my vegetable drawer.  I hate to throw stuff out, particularly when it is home grown, so that evening I pulled out some scallops and decided to accompany them with a zucchini rice and whatever else I could think of.  Also in the fridge, half of a red pepper, still crisp from who knows when.  Of course, the Lemon Balm is one of the most successful herbs I've grown this summer so that also had to do double duty.

Finally my refrigerator is back to normal from when we entertained guests over the holiday weekend .  I feel so productive, although I still need to work on some of the leftover frozen hamburger rolls that we didn't eat on the 4th of July!

Ingredients

1/2 cup chopped zucchini

1/2 chopped red bell pepper

1 small red tomato

1/2 onion

1 TB olive oil

1 TB butter

1 cup Basmati Rice

1/2 cube chicken bouillon

1 1/2 cups water

 2 TB Lemon Balm chopped fine

Pine nuts

Salt and Pepper

Pine nuts, optional*

Directions

Coat the pan with the olive oil and butter.  Add zucchini, red pepper and onion and sautee until al dente. Add chopped tomato and cook for one minute.  You really want to render some pulp here to color and flavor the rice.   Pour the rice, add the water and bouillon cube, salt and bring to a boil.  Add the lemon balm and cover.  Cook rice until done. Correct for salt and pepper. Sprinkle some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese and pine nuts , cover and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Serve with Sauteed Scallops in butter.

*don't add pine nuts if you are planning to use the leftovers for Picnic Paella

Dress Simply...Jean Georges Fried Rice

From Jean Georges via Mark Bittman comes this delightful recipe and a video to boot! Now, fried eggs over white rice is a long standing Cuban tradition, or is it? Got me thinking wether we might not have arrived at it through the large influx of Chinese to Cuba in pre-Castro days.  In any event, who cares who claims credit for this wonderful combination.  If you have never had an egg on  rice, this is a good way to start!

Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons minced ginger

Salt

2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried

4 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons sesame oil

4 teaspoons soy sauce.


Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.

2. Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

3. Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through. Season to taste with salt.

4. In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

5. Divide rice among four dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and serve.



The Minimalist: Fried Rice, Dressed Simply (January 27, 2010)
Photo Credit: Evan Sung The New York Times