Improv: Slow Cooker Sausage and Wild Rice Pot

It's Improv time again!

The premise of the Improv Challenge is easy: each month there are two assigned ingredients.  The participants must make a recipe using both ingredients and blog about it. 

This month's assigned ingredients were pork and rice.  So many options!  I actually already have several pork and rice dishes on my blog: Baked Pork Chops with Brown Rice, Coconut Galangal Pork Fried Rice, Sausage, Spinach, and Brown Rice Skillet, and Smoked Sausage, Peas, and Rice Skillet,  Pork and rice is a great combo!  I searched my pins on Pinterest for something new to try and was overwhelmed by the number of pins I had that would work.  

I settled on soup.  I was going to make a slow cooker creamy sausage and wild rice soup.  But it was one of those times when you set out to create one thing, and end up with something completely different!  My intention was to cook wild rice, mushrooms, and seasonings in beef broth, with a little gravy mix for thickening, then when the rice was tender, add sausage and some heavy cream, and more broth if necessary to make it a cozy winter soup.  But when I checked on the rice to see if it was done, it was not only done, but it was amazing!  The broth and gravy had thickened up just perfectly for a really yummy rice dish.  I simply could not imagine watering it down to make it into a soup!  It was not yet time for dinner, so I added the sausage and turned the slow cooker down to warm until dinnertime.  The funny thing is, I hadn't even intended to serve this for dinner that night; I was making it a day ahead so I could get some good pics of it at lunchtime the next day, then we would eat it for dinner.  But after smelling it cook all afternoon, and seeing how amazing it tasted, I couldn't resist eating it that same night.  It worked out well because I had some unexpected errands to run right before dinner that night, so it was awesome to have dinner ready when I got home.  (The meal I originally planned for that night was easily switched to the next night.)  

Slow Cooker Sausage and Wild Rice Pot

Ingredients:

32 oz. reduced sodium beef broth

8 oz. cremini mushrooms, chopped

1 cup wild rice blend (I used Lundberg Wild Blend)

1 tsp dried onion flakes (I used Penzey's toasted)

1 bay leaf

½ tsp dried oregano

1 (.87 oz) packet brown gravy mix

2 tsp flour

1 lb. ground Italian sausage

Directions:

Place beef broth, mushrooms, rice, onion flakes, bay leaf, and oregano in a 3 qt. slow cooker.  In a small bowl, combine the gravy mix and flour.  Add to slow cooker, using a whisk to combine it with the beef broth.  Set slow cooker to high and cook for 3 hours.

Remove bay leaf.  Brown sausage in a medium skillet.  Drain off grease and add sausage to slow cooker.  Stir and serve warm.

Makes 6 servings.

I browned the sausage and added it at the end, but if it's more convenient for you, I'm sure you could add it to the slow cooker at the beginning so it all cooks together.  

I served this with some roasted broccoli.  While my four-year-old wasn't wild about this (pun intended), my husband and six-year-old raved about it.  Lena actually said it was a "flavor sensation that is sweeping the nation!"  She's a total goof.  My husband devoured the leftovers for lunch the next day.  He mentioned that it had great "umami".  He watches too many food shows with me!

This is just such perfect wintertime comfort food.  I have never had much luck cooking rice in the slow cooker before, so I was so excited that this turned out so perfectly.  Cooking it on high probably had a lot to do with that.  I'm not sure low would work with this recipe.  It might make the rice mushy.  I can already think of a couple of variations with this same method; chicken with chicken broth and chicken gravy mix immediately comes to mind.  Can't wait to experiment some more!

Check out all the other great pork and rice recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with coffee and cream.  Yum!

An InLinkz Link-up

Read More

Sausage, Spinach, and Brown Rice Skillet

I have two things for you today: a great meal-in-one recipe and the winner of my Red Gold apron giveaway.  I'll start with the recipe, so scroll down to find out the giveaway winner.

This is one of those convenient one-pot meals.  Well, it can be.  I made the rice separately, but if you want to do it all together, just pick up some Ready Rice.  I don't use that stuff very often, because I am home a lot and have no excuse not to make my own brown rice, but I like to keep a package or two on hand for rice "emergencies".  It can be your best friend on those super busy weeknights when you only have a few minutes to get dinner on the table.  (No, this post is not sponsored by Uncle Ben's; I just like that rice!)  My kids absolutely love brown rice, so we have it at least once a week, if not twice.  They also love sausage, so I thought this dish would be a big hit with them.  It's adapted from Cooking Light.

Sausage, Spinach, and Brown Rice Skillet

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

½ large onion, chopped

1 lb. ground sausage

6 cups fresh baby spinach, torn into pieces

1 tomato, chopped

3 cups brown rice (homemade, or 2 pouches Ready Rice)

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large skillet.  Sauté onion until it softens.  Add the sausage and cook over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a spoon, until it is no longer pink.  Add the spinach and the tomato, stirring until spinach is wilted.  Stir in brown rice and season with garlic powder and smoked paprika.  Cook another minute or so, stirring constantly to make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Makes 4 servings.

I was right; my kids loved this recipe.  They aren't huge fans of spinach, but they tolerated it in this dish.  I left out the Parmesan, and I thought it needed a little something for color.  I had some vine-ripened tomatoes in my produce basket, so I chopped one up and threw it in there.  That was a great addition, not only for the color, but it also added a punch of brightness and acidity.  Worked out really well.

Speaking of tomatoes, it's now time for me to announce the winner of my Red Gold apron giveaway.

The winner is: Bonnie Boucek!  Congrats, Bonnie!  Check your inbox for an email from me!

I used Random.org to choose the winner:

A huge thanks to all of you who entered my giveaway.  I wish I could give all of you an apron!  :)

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

Read More

Broccoli Cheddar Rice

How about another great rice recipe?  I used to love those Lipton rice packets from the store.  So easy to make on a busy weeknight and my family devoured them.  The cheesy broccoli one was everyone's favorite.  You know the one, right?  The one with the orangey cheese powder and the minuscule dried bits of broccoli stems?  Yeah, that one!  I loved it, but it wasn't long before I started feeling really guilty feeding that stuff to my family.  I am not one of those people who gets all worked up over processed foods, but this stuff was just loaded with salt, salt, more salt, and fakey ingredients.  So I had been wanting to make my own version for a while.  I saw a recipe for cheesy zucchini rice at Buns in My Oven and decided to use broccoli instead.  The result is so much better than anything that comes in a packet and is not that much more work.

Broccoli Cheddar Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup long-grain white rice

1½ cups water

½ tsp salt 

½ of one stalk of broccoli, cut into very small florets

2 tbsp butter

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

¼ cup milk, or more as needed

Directions:

Combine rice, water, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once it boils, reduce heat to as low as it goes and set timer for 15 minutes.  

Meanwhile, steam broccoli florets until tender. 

Add the butter to the rice and stir until melted.  Add in the broccoli and cheddar and stir until cheese is melted.  Add milk to thin out to desired consistency.  Taste for seasoning, adding salt if necessary.  

Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings.

This stuff is so good with real pieces of broccoli and real cheese!  I have always made this with white rice (I used parboiled from Sam's), but I have been wanting to try it with brown.  Maybe next time.  

Make sure you chop your broccoli into tiny pieces for best results.  You can cook it however you like; I use my Pampered Chef microcooker.  Takes about 5 minutes.

Once you try this rice, you will never look back!

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

Read More

Carrot Ginger Rice

I have a couple of rice recipes I've been meaning to share for a while now.  I have made this one a few times now and it is one of my all-time favorite ways to make rice.  Cooked rice is tossed with sauteed carrots, garlic, onions, and ginger.  It's a great way to spruce up boring old rice.  It's adapted from For the Love of Cooking.

Carrot Ginger Rice

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

½ large onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled & minced

1 clove of garlic, minced

Salt, to taste

4 cups cooked rice, brown or white

¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until tender. Add the carrot, ginger, and garlic to the onions and cook, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked rice to the mixture.  Check for seasoning, adding salt if necessary.  Add the cilantro, if using.  Stir gently so all ingredients are well combined. Serve immediately. 

Makes 4 servings.

I strongly recommend using brown rice in this recipe.  The nuttiness of brown rice really goes well with the carrot and the ginger.  I use my Baked Brown Rice recipe, which is nice because I can make it earlier in the day if I need to and it's ready to go at dinnertime.  But if you are working all day and need a quicker prep than that, you could totally use a couple packets of that Uncle Ben's Ready Rice.

If you read the recipe and compared it to my picture, you may notice a discrepancy.  I left out the cilantro the day I took this pic.  Cilantro goes bad so quickly in the fridge that I often find myself out of it when I need it.  My husband isn't a huge cilantro fan anyway, so I sometimes make this rice without the cilantro.  Personally, I love it, so if you do too, and you have some, throw it in there.  It's a beautiful dish either way.

I love to serve this rice with Asian main dishes.  The flavors are very complimentary with soy sauce, teriyaki, sesame, etc.  But it would also be great with a roasted chicken or your favorite pork chops.

What I'm Reading Right Now

Mary Poppins

by P.L. Travers

Doctor Sleep

by Stephen King

Read More

Coconut Galangal Pork Fried Rice

I promised you some very un-Thanksgiving food this week, and here it is!  I was chosen for the World Foods Fusion Taste Team, which means that I received a lovely variety of Asian stir fry sauces from World Foods to try out and come up with some new recipes.  I made this amazing pork fried rice with their Thai Coconut Galangal Stir Fry Sauce.

Coconut Galangal Pork Fried Rice

Ingredients:

3 tbsp canola oil

½ large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ cups shelled edamame, thawed if frozen

4 oz. cremini mushrooms, chopped

1 cup cabbage, shredded

1 cup carrots, thinly sliced on the bias

1 lb. boneless pork loin, cut into ½” cubes

3 cups cooked rice

1 jar World Foods Thai Coconut Galangal Stir Fry Sauce

Sprinkle of soy sauce

Green onions

Cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat.  Add the onion, garlic, edamame, mushrooms, cabbage, and carrots.  Cook until vegetables are just slightly softened.  Add the pork and stir until pork is browned and no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the rice and half the jar of stir fry sauce.  Cook and stir for about 5 minutes.  Add the remaining stir fry sauce and cook until veggies are softened to your liking.  Sprinkle with soy sauce.  Garnish with fresh green onions and cilantro, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

This is the second fried rice recipe I have made now, the first is a meatless one, my Thai Fried Rice.  I love packing as many veggies as I can into my fried rice.  I tried to choose different veggies for this dish.  The edamame is a great choice.  And I love the crunchiness from the cabbage and the meaty mushrooms.  

Doesn't it make a beautiful dish?  I love the flavor of this stir fry sauce.  It's not spicy or overpowering in any way.  It just perfectly melds all the dish's components together.  And it's so much easier than pulling five different bottles out of the fridge to create your own sauce.

This is kind of a competition to see which team (we are in state teams) can get the most comments, likes on Facebook, and repins on Pinterest.  So it would be great if you could take just a few seconds to pin this recipe and like it on Facebook!

Disclosure: I received a free sample of the stir fry sauce from World Foods as part of the Fusion Taste Team. All opinions are 100% my own.

Read More

One Pot Summer Squash, Beef, and Rice Skillet

This morning I learned that today is National Zucchini Day.  And, as it turns out, I have made three new zucchini dishes in the last day and a half!  Not intentionally, but I love zucchini and the ones at the store were looking really good the last time I was there, so I stocked up.  I know a lot of people are looking for zucchini recipes this time of year because their gardens are full of it.  We didn't plant zucchini, so store-bought has to do for us.

Well, I couldn't decide which of the three zucchini recipes to share with you today.  So I decided to put it to a vote!  I posted pictures of all three dishes on my Facebook page and let my fans tell me which recipe they would like the most.  A couple of people voted for the burger recipe, but the one-pot skillet was by far the winner.  So here you go!  This is an adaptation of a recipe I read in Everyday Food yesterday during lunch.  Yes, it was lunchtime and I still wasn't sure what were having for dinner.  Jim brought in the mail and in it was my magazine.  I started looking through it as I was eating and came upon this recipe, Summer Beef-and-Rice Casserole.  I had to change it a little bit because it was part of a week-long menu and called for ingredients leftover from another meal.  So I adapted it to work as a standalone dish.  It turned out great!


One Pot Summer Squash, Beef, and Rice Skillet

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh soft breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
24 oz. jar marinara sauce
1 cup water
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 small zucchini, very thinly sliced
1 small yellow squash, very thinly sliced
Salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 475°.  Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and olive oil in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Brown ground beef in a large (12”) skillet with an oven-safe handle.  Drain well and return to skillet.  Stir in the marinara sauce and water and bring to a rapid simmer over high heat.  Stir in rice.  

Carefully arrange zucchini and yellow squash slices over the top, slightly overlapping each other.  Season well with salt.  Top with breadcrumb mixture.

Cover skillet with foil and bake in preheated oven 12 minutes.  Remove foil and return to oven for another 10 minutes, or until top is golden brown and rice is cooked.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 servings.

I know that the title is a bit of a mouthful, but it has to tell you what all is going on this thing!  It's a casserole chock full of ground beef and rice in your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu's Sauteed Onion and Garlic), then topped with super thin slices of yellow squash and zucchini and crunchy Parmesan breadcrumbs.  The greatest thing about this is that it's a one pot meal.  Everything cooks in the skillet, even the rice!  I LOVE that.  Besides the skillet, the only other things I dirtied up making this was my mandoline, and the small bowl I mixed up the breadcrumb topping in.  That's awesome!

I doubled the rice from Martha's recipe because half a cup didn't seem like very much, even raw.  I thought the end result was a tad heavy on rice, but my husband said, "Don't change a thing! It was perfect!"  Okay, okay!  This was a HUGE hit with my family.  Lena, my four-year-old, asked for seconds, my husband wanted to go back for thirds, but knew that he shouldn't, and Eva, my two-year-old, ate two servings, then finished off the rest of Lena's second serving that she didn't finish.  And still asked for more!  (I had to remove the topping from hers because of her dairy allergy, but she didn't seem to mind!)  I think it would be really good with ground sausage too, so I'll probably try it that way next time.

Look at her shoveling it in with both hands!

My favorite part was the zucchini topping.  Mmm, so good!  I love zucchini and yellow squash just by themselves, but then to add crispy Parmesan breadcrumbs on top?  Oh my!

This was such a huge hit and so easy to make that I will definitely be making it again many times in the future.

Happy Zucchini Day!

Read More

Smoked Sausage, Peas, and Rice Skillet

This is a super simple, all-in-one dish that I've made a couple of times now.  It involves very little effort, but tastes great and is a total family-pleaser.  It's an adaptation of one I saw on MyRecipes, originally published in Southern Living Magazine.


Smoked Sausage, Peas, and Rice Skillet


Ingredients:
14 – 16 oz. smoked sausage
½ large onion, diced
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed


Directions:
Cut sausage in half lengthwise, then into ¼” semicircles.  Sauté in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove sausage slices and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tbsp of drippings in skillet.


Add onion to skillet and sauté over medium-high heat until tender.  Stir cornstarch into chicken broth and add to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet.  Add sausage back to pan, along with the smoked paprika, rice, and peas.  Bring to a boil.  When sauce starts to thicken, reduce heat to low and cook just until peas are warmed through.


Makes 4 servings.

The original recipe called for green bell pepper instead of peas, but we don't like peppers and the peas are a perfect replacement.  The smoked paprika was my addition; it goes so well with the smoked sausage.

This meal is so perfect for busy weeknights because it contains ready-to-use ingredients and only takes 15-20 minutes to throw together.  I bake brown rice earlier in the day to use in this recipe, but if you don't have time for that, you could definitely use Uncle Ben's Ready Rice or Minute Rice instead.  If using Minute Rice, cover the skillet after adding the rice and let it cook the amount of time stated on the box.  You might need to add a little bit extra chicken broth.  What I usually do is bake a whole batch of brown rice (4 cups cooked), and then whatever I don't need, I freeze in 1 cup portions.  I love having cooked brown rice on hand for adding into soups and recipes like this.  

A note on the number of servings: I get four servings out of this, but that's two adults and two little kids.  This probably wouldn't feed four hungry adults. But it's perfect for a family of four. FYI!

Read More

Secret Recipe Club: Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

It's time again to reveal our picks for the Secret Recipe Club.   The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

I was very pleased to be assigned Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts this month.  I have been reading Erin's blog for quite a while now, so I was pretty familiar with it and knew I would have a ton of great recipes to choose from.  I had a really hard time narrowing it down! She has tons of drool-worthy desserts, like Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownies and Cookie Dough Truffles.  I bookmarked several main dish recipes too, Taco Pizza, Spicy Asian Noodles with Chicken, and Chicken Burrito Pizza.  In fact, I was so indecisive, that I ended up making two of Erin's recipes this month.  I made her Smokey Garlic Chicken Pasta, which is amazing!  My family couldn't get enough.  Even though we are having a very mild winter here in Michigan, I am still in soup mode, so I chose her Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup for the reveal.

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

½ large onion, chopped

1 cup matchstick carrots

½ cup flour

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

3½ cups wild rice, cooked

2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped or shredded

Salt, to taste

12 oz. evaporated milk

Directions:

Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Sauté onion and carrot in the butter until soft and tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour until blended.  Slowly add broth.  Stir in rice and chicken.  Bring to boil over medium heat.  Cook for a few minutes until it starts to thicken.  Stir in milk and cook for 3-5 minutes.  Taste for seasoning and add salt if desired. 

Makes 8 servings.

I made just a few adjustments to Erin's original recipe.  I used matchstick carrots instead of chopped, just because I love the convenience of them.  I omitted the celery because we are not big fans.  I used a wild rice blend instead of just wild rice.  The blend was so much cheaper at the grocery store, and I thought the textures of the different kinds of rice would be really good.  The blend that I used contained long grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, wild rice, whole grain Wehani rice, and whole grain Black Japonica rice.  It was really tasty!

This soup is so delicious and perfect for a winter day.  I made it the weekend my mom was visiting and she loved it, and I sent some home to my sister and she enjoyed it too.  I will definitely be making this soup again.  I'm always thrilled to add a new soup to my repertoire, so thanks for the great recipe, Erin!


Pin It

Read More

Baked Brown Rice

After taking a week off (we had to go out of town for a funeral and to visit some ill relatives), I am back with what you  might consider a pretty boring recipe.  Brown rice.  Yes, I know it's not all that exciting, but this is a really great recipe to know.  We eat a lot of rice around here, not only because it's super cheap, but also because it just seems to go with so many main dishes.  It's very versatile!  I know that brown rice is much healthier than white, but until I found this recipe I had very little success making it.  It takes much, much longer to cook than white, and I kept ending up with rice that was either still crunchy or rice that had seemingly exploded and no longer looked like rice grains at all.

Enter Alton Brown.  I don't know what you think of him, but I think he's a culinary genius.  I found his recipe for baking brown rice and I haven't looked back since.  It still takes a long time, but the thing I like about this recipe is that you put it together, throw it in the oven, and then you don't have to think about it for an hour.  Then after the hour is up, you open the oven door to find brown rice perfection.  The rice comes out tender, but still with a tiny bit of bite to it.  This method preserves the nutty chewiness of the brown rice.  And the grains remain intact; no exploding mess here!


Baked Brown Rice


Ingredients
1½ cups brown rice
2½ cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.


Place the rice into an 8” square glass baking dish.


Bring the water, oil, and salt just to a boil in a covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.


After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.

To make Gingered Brown Rice: Follow same directions, adding 8-10 thinly sliced coins of ginger to the rice and water before baking.  When done baking, discard the ginger and fluff.


Makes 4 servings.

See?  Couldn't be easier.  The recipe originally called for butter instead of olive oil, but I use the oil because of my daughter's dairy allergy.  Still comes out perfectly.

You can use this baked rice the same way you would use white rice.  Eat it like it is, or doctor it up by stirring in extra ingredients.  Next time I make it I might try adding some sauteed onions to it before it goes into the oven.  It would just give an extra dimension of flavor.

So the next time you go to pull out your white rice, reach for the brown instead and give this recipe a try.

Read More

Ginger Scallion Rice

This is a side dish I created last night.  It's a really simple way to "dress up" plain white rice.


Ginger Scallion Rice


Ingredients:
1½ cups long grain white rice
¾ tsp salt
2¼ cups water
2” piece of fresh ginger, sliced into coins
2 scallions


Directions:
Place rice, salt, water, and ginger in a medium saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 18 minutes.


Meanwhile, slice the scallions on the bias, not going too far into the white part.


When the rice is done, remove and discard all of the ginger pieces.  Add the sliced scallion and fluff with a fork.


Makes 4 servings.

Since the ginger infuses its flavor into the rice, you don't have to be too fussy with it.  I didn't even peel it.  Just make sure you cut it into big enough pieces that it will be easy to fish them out later.

Jim liked this a lot better than I thought he would, considering that he doesn't like onions.  He thought it was really pretty and that it should be called "Confetti Rice".  I think I will try it with jasmine rice next time.

I really like the crunch that the green onions give it.  It went perfectly with my Slow Cooker Tropical BBQ Chicken.

Read More

Thai Fried Rice

This is another one of my meatless main dishes.  I'm getting quite a collection of these!  When I started planning one meatless meal a week, honestly, I thought it would be kind of a pain.  I thought it would be hard to come up with enough good recipes that we weren't constantly eating the same thing, and I thought that my husband would dread the meatless dinner each week.  But I was wrong.  I have found a wide variety of meatless recipes to try, fortunately for me, meatless eating is really popular right now.  And Jim has absolutely loved every meatless dish I have made.  Last night, after devouring this lovely concoction, he simply put his spoon down and looked at me, very seriously, and said, "I love you."  Wow, that's some good food!

I got this recipe from my friend Barbara who got it from the blog Gina's Skinnytaste.  It's so easy to customize to your liking that I doubt any two people would make it the exact same way.  I know Barbara makes it differently than Gina and I made it differently than Barbara.  You can add or subtract veggies as you see fit.  And even though this is the new star of my  meatless main collection, you can add cubed chicken or beef or pork or whatever you like.  That's the beauty of this recipe.  Here's how I made it last night.


Thai Fried Rice


Ingredients:
3 cups jasmine rice, cooked
3 eggs, beaten
Salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
½ large onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup matchstick carrots
1 cup zucchini, diced
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tsp Bangkok Seasoning
¼ cup soy sauce 
2 tsp fish sauce
salt and pepper


Directions:
Prepare rice ahead of time according to package instructions. It's best if it's made slightly on the dry side.


Heat a large skillet on a medium-high flame.  Add the eggs and salt and cook a minute or two until done. Set aside.


Add the oil to the wok and add the onion, green onion, and garlic. Saute 1 minute, add the carrots and saute for a couple of minutes.  Add the zucchini and cook for a few minutes.  Add the rice, peas, Bangkok Seasoning, soy sauce, and fish sauce.  Stir to mix all the ingredients. Keep stirring a few minutes, then add the egg back to the skillet, breaking it up into pieces with a spatula.  Adjust soy sauce if needed and stir well another 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper if needed.  Garnish with additional green onion, if desired.


Makes 4 servings.

My version is filled with way more vegetables than Gina's.  Her's just has onion, garlic, green onions, and tomatoes.  I left out the tomatoes and added the carrots, zucchini, and peas.  I think loading up on veggies is a good thing when you are going meatless, and isn't that kind of the point anyway?

You will notice that I used something called "Bangkok Seasoning".  That is a Penzey's spice blend (of course!).  If you don't have that, you can use the Thai chile that Gina used in hers or red pepper flakes.  Just something to give it a little bit of heat (or a lot if you like it that way).  I like the Bangkok, because not only does it provide subtle heat, it has other spices in it too (garlic, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, etc) to help round out the flavors of the finished dish. 

I didn't use the right kind of rice when I made this last night, but it turned out okay anyway.  I sent my husband to the store for jasmine rice and he came back with that Uncle Ben's stuff that you microwave right in the pouch.  Not being able to control the consistency of the rice before adding it to the dish, it came out a little bit overcooked, and the jasmine flavor didn't come through very well.  Next time I'll make sure I have real jasmine rice on hand when I make this.

Thanks so much for passing this recipe along, Barbara!

Jane at The Heritage Cook whipped this recipe up at a moment's notice when I was orphaned at the Secret Recipe Club's March 2012 reveal.  Click on the button below to check out her post!

Read More

Sweet Pea Risotto Gratin

I'm back! I kind of took a winter hiatus from blogging, but spring is slowly creeping in and my taxes are done, so I am anxious to get back to posting recipes. Even though I didn't blog much during the winter, I still made lots of new recipes, so I have a backlog of stuff to blog about. I probably won't get to all of it, but I'll hit the highlights.

Today is St. Patrick's Day. There are two ways you go with dinner on St. Patrick's Day: traditional Irish food or green food. This year I have opted for traditional food. I am making my first ever corned beef and cabbage dish (in the slow cooker). But I inadvertently made a green meal last weekend.

This sweet pea risotto recipe is one I saw in Rachael Ray's magazine a while back and was eager to try, but for some reason I didn't get around to until now. Even though it's a side dish, it's kind of time-consuming and a little bit labor intensive, so you'll have to have a super easy main dish to serve it with. I pan seared salmon fillets.

I didn't change very much about the original recipe. Here's my adaptation.

Sweet Pea Risotto Gratin

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen peas, thawed

8 cups chicken broth

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cups arborio (short grain) rice

2 tbsp butter

1 cup parmesan cheese, divided

Salt

¼ cup soft bread crumbs

Directions:

Puree half of the peas in a food processor and set aside with the whole peas.

In a saucepan, heat the chicken broth and keep warm. Grease a 2-quart casserole and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the rice and stir well to coat the grains with butter. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth to the rice, lower the heat slightly and stir until the broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth in ½ cup increments, letting the rice absorb the liquid (about 3 minutes) after each addition, and stirring almost constantly, until the rice is cooked, 20 to 25 minutes. The finished rice will be creamy but still firm to the bite.

A few minutes before the risotto is done, stir in the pureed and whole peas. Turn on the broiler.

Remove the cooked rice from the heat and stir in the butter and ¾ cup of the parmesan. Season with salt, if necessary. Stir the remaining ¼ cup of parmesan and the bread crumbs together. Transfer the risotto to the prepared casserole dish and top with the bread crumb mixture. Place the dish under the broiler about 6 inches from the heat source and broil for about 2 minutes, or until the top is golden. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

The original called for a total of 5 tbsp of butter, 3 for sauteeing the onion. I used olive oil for that instead. I also increased the amount of stock because I ran out, and it can't hurt to have extra (the leftover can be refrigerated and used for something else). The only other thing I changed was that I used fresh soft bread crumbs instead of dry. I just prefer the fresh and I think it gives it better texture.

This is it after the rice is cooked. So pretty!

Into the casserole dish.

I served this with salmon that had been seasoned with Penzey's Fox Point seasoning. It's made with shallots, chives, and green onions, so it has a beautiful green color. I actually didn't choose it for the color; I just thought the flavor would go well with the rice dish.

My favorite thing about making risotto is using the leftovers (I don't ever halve risotto recipes!) to make risotto cakes the next day. If you think making risotto is a lot of work (it really isn't, though), just remember that you get two days of side dishes out of it! Jim actually made these to go with grilled steak the next night. Mmmm! Take a handful of risotto and form it into a patty shape, coat it in breadcrumbs (dry is fine here), and fry in a little bit of oil in a skillet. A lot of times I end up enjoying the cakes more than the original dish.

Read More

Zucchini Risotto

A creamy, flavorful rice dish I made for dinner tonight with fresh zucchini from our garden. I found the original recipe on Allrecipes. I made a few minor changes.

Zucchini Risotto

Ingredients:

9 cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups Arborio rice

2 medium zucchini, chopped

1 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring stock to a boil in a medium stock pot, then reduce heat to a low simmer.

Heat oil in a large, stock pot over medium heat. Stir in onions and cook for 4 minutes, or until softened. Add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly toasted.

Ladle in simmering stock, one ladleful at a time, stirring continuously. When liquid is almost completely absorbed by the rice, put in another ladeful and continue stirring. Risotto will become "creamy" and slightly sticky, yet still firm in the center, or al dente.

When almost finished, stir in the zucchini and thyme, adding stock as needed and stirring continuously. Season with pepper to taste.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Information

Servings Per Recipe: 6

Calories: 375

Total Fat: 4g

Cholesterol: 9mg

Sodium: 720mg

Total Carbs: 70g

Dietary Fiber: 5g

Protein: 10g

This was so good. If you've never made risotto before, you should try it. It has a bad reputation of being a complicated dish to make, but it really isn't. It does take a bit more attention than traditional rice, but it's really not that bad and the end result is so worth it. Risotto is super creamy, but doesn't have any cream or milk in it. Instead of putting the rice and the water (or stock) together in a pan and letting it cook undisturbed for 15 minutes or so, you toast the rice in some oil and add warm stock a little bit at a time, stirring throughout. Stirring the rice makes the starch come out and that is what gives it the "creamy" texture without the cream. So delicious.

I made a few changes to the original recipe I found on Allrecipes. I increased the amount of zucchini called for quite a bit. The original called for only a half of a zucchini. I halved the recipe and used a whole one. Half of a zucchini for 6 servings is definitely not enough. Also, the original called for sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. I thought it would be better without the tomatoes, and I didn't have fresh basil on hand. I had dried, but you can't add basil to a recipe while it's still cooking because it will turn black. If you add basil to it, add it after you remove it from the heat. It also called for 6 tbsp of parmesan to be mixed in at the end. I was going to do that, but forgot, and I loved it the way it was, so I omitted that from my amended recipe.

Here's a close-up picture of it. Check out the creamy goodness!

Tonight I served it with Herbed Cheese Stuffed Salmon, but it would go well with just about anything.

Read More