Food Friday - Rice Is Nice!

At 104 degrees, it is now too hot to be outside cooking on the grill so I am back inside, but trying not to generate too much heat in the kitchen.  Salads and one pot meals are the name of the game at house these days.  And eating out, probably too often.

This week's recipe is an old favorite of mine from Southern Living.  Shortly after I was married the first time in 1983, my mom gave me a subscription to Southern Living magazine as a Christmas gift. She continued to renew it every year until her death in 2006 at which point I became responsible for my own annual subscription.  Though I am a confessed magazine junkie, over the past few years I have started taking fewer and fewer magazines, mostly because I just don't have time to read them all.    And the ones for which I have maintained a subscription, I now receive digitally...except Southern Living.  It still comes in the mail.  I guess there is a little bit of nostalgia going on.  Even though I now pay for the magazine myself, it still seems like a gift from my mom.  And I look forward to every new issue.

The Brown Rice and Sausage Skillet recipe is one that I copied by hand into a spiral cookbook of my favorite recipes.  I credited Southern Living,  but not the exact issue, and I am too lazy to go back through the annual cookbooks and look for it.  Sorry!  I have made a few adaptations to this over the years, which I will also share.

INGREDIENTS

16 oz. smoked sausage
1 medium sized green bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Cup chicken broth
2 Cups quick cooking brown rice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

With the exception of the sausage, most of these ingredients are kitchen staples or have an easy substitute that is.  As far as I am concerned, you can add onion, bell pepper, and garlic to just about any other combination of ingredients and create a decent meal, so I always have these on hand.

The first step is to saute the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat.  In the past, I have used smoked pork kielbasa,  but recently, I have been using the non-cured smoked turkey kielbasa.  Taste-wise it works great, but because of its lower fat content, it requires the addition of a little fat for sautéing.

Because the intent is to lightly brown the sausage, I use just a little bit of butter to aid in the browning.  The original recipe says then to drain the sausage on a paper towel and reserve a tablespoon of drippings in which to saute the veggies.  Again, when using turkey sausage there are no drippings so it is necessary to use a little olive oil for this.

Chop the onion and green pepper and mince the garlic.

Combine and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth to the veggies and bring to a boil.  I often use vegetable broth because that is what I regularly have on hand.  Any kind of broth will do, as will water and a little extra seasoning in a pinch.  Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the rice, salt, pepper, and sausage.  I use Minute brand brown rice because I keep that on hand to feed our )spoiled) dog.  Really, you can use any kind of rice, quick cooking or not, just adjust your liquid amount and cooking time accordingly.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about five minutes or until the rice is tender.

Serve with a garnish of fresh parsley if desired.

This dish does double duty in that it is just as good as leftovers so works for dinner one night and then a lunch box lunch the next day.

If you have to cook on these hot summer days, this one pot meal is quick and doesn't generate too much heat in the kitchen.  Serve with a fresh salad for a cool and healthy side dish.




by Tracey G,

I didn't like Spanish Rice growing up, all the recipes seemed to involve green pepper etc and I just never cared for it, not sure why, there was just a taste I didn't like. Then one day, I ran across this recipe in Taste of Home (I think, it's been so long!) and it sounded a bit different. So, after a few modifications, I made it and fell in love with it! LOL And it was easy, so it got even better. ;-) I discovered I could throw this together quickly - once or twice it was a last minute addition to my meal and it was done right on time with everything else. Usually I make it on "Taco Night", lol, it goes really well as a side dish, and it's been known to be used as a condiment on top of beef nachos, lol.

The ingredient list is super simple, once again it's usually stuff I have on hand. One thing though, it's supposed to use canned diced tomatoes with chilies, but that was a bit much for Harry, so I switched to just a regular can of diced tomatoes, well, I should say I usually use the "petite" diced. ;-) Anyway, on with the ingredients, starting in the center and going clockwise - instant rice, diced garlic, olive oil, chopped oil, beef broth, canned diced tomatoes, salt, cumin, sugar, chili powder and oregano.

To start, you sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until tender. I start the onions first so they have plenty of time to get clear and soft - then I add the garlic and give it one to two minutes.  

Next step is to add the instant rice to the pan, it gets sautéed for a couple minutes.

Now you add everything else - the broth, tomatoes and the dry seasonings. 

Stir to combine everything well. At this point I take a taste, to make sure it's seasoned the way I want it to be - if I feel it needs some extra of whatever I add it until I get it to the flavor I'm looking for. :-) Bring it to a boil, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let stand, covered another 5 minutes. Stir before you serve and that's it.

Here's the recipe:

Quick Spanish Rice

serves 4-6

1/2 c chopped onion

2-3 cloves garlic minced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 c uncooked instant rice

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies, undrained

1 14 oz can beef broth

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp dried oregano

In a large saucepan saute onion and garlic in olive oil 2-3 minutes until tender. Add rice, cook and stir for 1-2 minutes.

Stir in tomatoes, broth, chili powder, salt, sugar, cumin and oregano. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, let stand 5 minutes. 

Food Friday - Rice Is Nice

from Kris B.

When I was a kid we did not eat out very often.  My mom fixed dinner every night - usually meat, potatoes or rice, and a vegetable or two.  I know exactly what is meant by the restaurants who advertise that they serve homestyle cooking.  The side affect to my culinary upbringing is that we never ate ethnic food.  The  phrase “Let’s get Chinese take-out” was never uttered a our house.  The only Chinese food I knew was La Choy chow mein that came in the double stacked cans that were taped together.  How many of you remember those?  The only Mexican food I knew was Taco Bell and  I think I was in high school before I even knew about that.  Then I moved to Texas and the world of ethnic food opened up for me.   Tacos, and nachos, and burritos..oh my!

I quickly discovered that I really love Tex-Mex.  Well, what I really love are tortillas and rice.  Going back to my childhood, the only rice I knew was Minute rice.  I’ll admit it.  I loved that too.  When I realized that every Tex-Mex meal is served with rice, and usually tortillas, I became a very happy “Texan.”  The bad thing about Tex-Mex though is that it does not rate well when it comes to daily recommended servings of vegetables.  One can only eat so much salsa and call it a serving of vegetables.  

Over the thirty years that I have now lived in Texas, I have progressed beyond Taco Bell in my choice of Mexican restaurants and have learned to make many of my favorite Tex-Mex dishes.  (The one that I will never master is tamales.  The best tamales can only be  made by an abuela.  Rice, however, can be made by just about anyone.  LOL!

Unlike traditional Spanish rice, which is not hot at all, the Green Chile Rice recipe that I am sharing with you this week has a nice kick to it thanks to the jalapeño and two poblano chile peppers that it uses.  (This recipe is based on the recipe by the same name in The Homesick Texan by Lisa Fain.)

As my age has increased, so has my tolerance and fondness for spicy hot food.

INGREDIENTS

2 poblano peppers

1 jalapeño

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup cilantro

2 TBS lime juice

1 1/2 TBS vegetable oil

2 cups uncooked white rice

2 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

1/2 cup water

The first step is to roast the poblano peppers.  Place them in a shallow baking dish.  Broil them for approximately five minutes on each side.  The skins will turn black.  

Remove them from the oven a place them in either a paper back or a plastic zipper bag for twenty minutes. Take them from the bag and “rub” the skin off.  It should slide or peel off easily.  Admittedly, the poor peppers are rather sad looking at this point in the process. 

They sort of resemble a troll whose feet are in serious need of a spa treatment.  Don’t let that be a deterrent to trying this recipe:-)

Remove the stems and seeds and rough chop both the poblano and jalapeño peppers.  It is the seeds that pack the most heat, so if you are not a fan of super hot food, makes sure to remove all of the seeds!

Place the peppers, garlic, cumin, cilantro, lime juice and a tablespoon of water in a food processor or blender.  Process until you have a thick green paste.

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy pot on medium low heat.  Add the rice and sauté for thirty seconds. Add the chile puree. Cook for another minute while continuously stirring.  Then add the broth and 1/2 of water.  (The original recipe calls for chicken stock.  To accommodate our resident vegetarian, I use vegetable stock.)  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Cover.  Turn the heat to low and cook for twenty minutes more.  Remove from heat and let the rice sit covered for ten more minutes.  Add salt to taste.  Stir.

This rice is tasty as a side with almost anything.  

If you really don’t like the heat from the peppers, you can omit them and still have a tasty cilantro-lime rice.  If you do this, increase the amount of cilantro to a cup and add a little more lime juice.

Enjoy!

from Tracey G.

I have been through so many rice pudding recipes, all pretty good too - but for some reason I settled on this one as my go-to recipe. I think it's because it's super easy, and takes so little time to make - the longest part of it is the 30 minute wait after it comes off the stove. I came to making rice pudding kind of late, maybe just started about 10 years ago. Just always seemed like it would be something really difficult to do - it's not, but I guess I just had that stuck in head that it would be, lol. Once I tried making it, I began the search for one that was both easy and yummy, it took awhile - and few recipes later, I stumbled upon this one - it was from Minute Rice of all places, lol. Now, I've had rice pudding recipes with both instant rice and regular rice (even arborio for one recipe) and I can say I like both. I was unsure about the instant rice for texture purposes, but it's fine when it's all said and done. ;-)

The ingredients couldn't be simpler, instant rice, vanilla, sugar, salt, milk and eggs. I usually have all the stuff around all the time anyway, so it's a snap when I want to make something quick and last-minute for dessert. 

First, you combine the rice, sugar, salt and milk in a medium saucepan. 

Next, you bring it to a boil stirring constantly - once it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 6 minutes stirring occasionally. 

While the milk-rice mixture is simmering, whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small to medium sized bowl. I used a small one and my small whisk, usually works pretty well.

When the 6 minute cook time is up, stir a small amount of the hot milk-rice mixture into the eggs and vanilla - thereby tempering the eggs so you don't end up with scrambled eggs when you add them to the hot milk-rice mixture, lol, not a good thing! :-D

Once you temper the egg-vanilla mixture, add that slowly back into the pan with the hot milk-rice mixture. Now you cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute or until thickened. DO NOT BOIL.

Last step is to remove from heat and let stand for 30 min, and then serve warm! I've also noticed that if I let it sit a little longer before serving or eat the next day, it will dry out a bit. So, I just add some milk until I get it back to as creamy as I'd like. :-) You can serve with cinnamon on top - Harry likes it that way, but, I like it without, lol. Just plain for me thanks :-) And I suppose you could add raisins if that's what you'd like, lol, but you won't see me with them in or on mine, lol!

Here's the recipe:

Easy Rice Pudding

3 c milk

1 c instant rice

1/4 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla (a lot of times I add one more tsp and make it a tbsp ;-) )

1) Combine milk, rice, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 6 minutes stirring occasionally.

2) Beat eggs and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir in a small amount of hot mixture into eggs. Stirring constantly, slowly pour egg mixture back into hot rice mixture. Stirring constantly, cook on low heat 1 minute until thickened. DO NOT BOIL.

Remove from heat and let stand 30 minutes, serve warm.