Rice Pilaf with Rosemary

It was recently brought to my attention that a contingent of our population is “cooking” rice pilaf from a box. A box—really? Okay, now I know it is easier and off-hand less intimidating, but making the real stuff from scratch is actually quite easy and much more flavorful. So I made it my mission to find a recipe that is super easy and guaranteed to convert you boxed pilaf folks to the real thing.

For those of you not familiar with pilaf, this method is unique in that it toasts the grain before cooking (much like cooking risotto). This provides the grain a nutty flavor and firmer texture. It also allows for the starches to gelatinize, which helps keep the grains separate when cooked and pick-up the flavors of the dish.

Okay, so back to the recipe. This one is courtesy of Tyler Florence on The Food Network with some variations of my own. Not only it is super easy and flavorful, but it was one of the only recipes I could find that truly toasted the rice. Don’t be fooled, folks, a lot of the pilaf recipes out there are posers—just rice mixed with stuff. They call that pilaf? So wrong.

Anyway, so here is the recipe dedicated to you closeted boxed pilaf cooks out there (you know who you are). This makes 2 1/2 cups:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter (can substitute with olive oil)
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 1/2 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup basmati-style long grain rice
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (if you use regular broth, add less salt above)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary (about 4-5 inches)
• Toasted pine nuts or sliced almonds (optional)

1. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and shallot to butter and sauté. Season with the salt and pepper and cook until the onions and garlic are soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the rice and stir until coated with the butter. Increase the heat to medium-high. Let the rice cook until toasted, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in the broth, bay leaf, and rosemary. Bring to a simmer over low heat, cover, and cook until all the broth has been absorbed by the rice and the rice is tender, about 15 to 18 minutes. (You can shorten this cooking time by about 5 minutes if you heat the broth before adding it to the rice.)
4. Remove from the heat (still covered) and let set for 5 minutes. Discard the rosemary and bay leaf (and garlic clove if you wish).
5. Fluff the rice with a fork and mix-in pine nuts or almonds, if using. Check for seasoning and adjust if needed. Serve.

Enjoy!

Orange Rice Pudding

I am not a huge dessert person so when the occasion arises to make one, I want it to be quick and easy. I still have lots of Arborio rice sitting in my cabinet, so I decided to look for recipes for rice pudding. I have always loved rice pudding but never actually made it so figured this would be fun to try.

This recipe particularly stood out not only because the orange aspect sounded so interesting and yummy, but there are hardly any ingredients! How easy! Not to mention, a lot of the other recipes I looked at included more fattening stuff so I felt as though this was somewhat on the light side for dessert.

As I had guessed, this was super easy to make and the final product was very, very good. In fact, as I let the rice pudding cool in the refrigerator I seriously ate like half of it—my fridge must have lost all its cool air from me opening the door so much to have just one more little taste! I also think this is a great dessert for entertaining because you can make it ahead of time, and since it is so quick and easy, you can focus your efforts on the rest of the meal.

The only thing I want to note about the recipe is that it calls for four oranges when I think you can get away with just one. The idea is to serve the orange pieces with each serving, but do you really need a whole orange for each serving? I think just a single orange segment on top is plenty. I also suggest that you remove the membrane from the orange segments—it looks so much nicer. Or you can skip the orange slices all together and garnish with either chocolate shavings or orangettes.

Lastly, the recipe claims that it is for four servings, but I think they are pretty small servings so this may be more for three healthy size servings (either the French really do eat tiny portions, or may be I misjudged the amount before eating half of it from the fridge?).

So here is the recipe (for 4 servings) from Daniel Young’s The Bistros, Brasseries, and Wine Bars of Paris:

• 1/2 cup short-grain rice
• Salt
• 4 oranges
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade

1. Place the rice in a saucepan, cover with cold water and a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and drain.
2. Grate the zest of 1 orange (don't be shy zesting--this is where most of the orange flavor will come from!). Peel all the oranges, divide them into sections, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Combine the orange zest, milk, and sugar in a saucepan and heat over high heat to a boil.
4. Add the rice, cover, lower the heat to very low, and cook, stirring occasionally so the rice does not stick, for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the rice from the heat, add the orange marmalade, stir well, and let cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
6. To serve, surround each serving of rice pudding with orange sections.

Enjoy!

Lemon Sole with Spring Risotto and Pesto

My friend Alison turned 30 over the weekend, which was certainly a cause to celebrate! The official birthday festivities took place on Saturday, but I was quite honored when she asked if I would cook her dinner on Sunday evening for her actual birthday. So what does one make for such an event? Something special yet easy so that I could socialize with Alison and our friend Carrie, who also joined us, while preparing dinner.

I still have risotto on my mind after making my Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms dish. (I also still have a very large bag of Arborio rice—used to make risotto—that needs to be used up!) So I decided to make this a part of my dish and top it off with a fish fillet.

The risotto I made was similar to my Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms dish, except that I replaced the mushrooms with asparagus. This added a Spring flair to the risotto, which was perfect for an April birthday. I also did not include the cream in order to make the risotto less rich.

For the fish, I chose a lemon sole fillet since this fish is light in flavor and would not fight for attention with the risotto. I think tilapia or halibut would also work with this dish for the same reasons.

Meanwhile, I still needed something that would help the dish really pop. So I decided on a pesto to top it off, but didn’t want the conventional basil and pine nut basil. Instead I chose to use watercress due to its bold flavor and walnuts because, well, I like them. I also toasted the walnuts before adding them to the food processor, which really enhanced the flavor.

Okay, so here is the recipe for 3 servings. Note that you can make the pesto ahead of time and set it aside.

Watercress and Toasted Walnut Pesto

• ½ cup of walnuts halves, lightly toasted
• ½ clove of garlic
• ½ cup of watercress leaves
• ¼ - ½ cup extra virgin olive oil (amount depends on the pesto consistency you desire)
• Salt to taste

1. Add the toasted walnuts and garlic to the food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Add watercress and mix until ingredients are pureed.
3. Slowly add olive oil until the pesto reaches the desired consistency.
4. Add salt to taste.

Spring Risotto

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp and 2 tbsp olive oil
• 15 asparagus stalks, rough ends removed
• 1 medium leek, chopped and rinsed (remember, you only use the white and light green part of the leek)
• ¾ cup Arborio rice
• ¼ cup dry white wine
• ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (the green can kind is prohibited!!!)

1. In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to the lowest setting to keep broth warm and cover.
2. While broth is heating up, add 1 tsp of olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add asparagus stalks and cook until asparagus is bright green. This should take a few minutes.
3. Remove asparagus and place aside. Cut into 1 inch pieces once cooled.
4. Now add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and the chopped leaks to the large sauté pan. Sauté the leeks until they just begin to brown.
5. Add the Arborio rice and mix until the rice is glistening with the oil.
6. Pour in the wine and mix until absorbed.
7. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and mix until the rice again absorbs the liquid and reaches a thick, creamy consistency. Continue this process, pouring only 1/2 cup of broth at a time, until the rice is tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Also note, that the amount of broth needed will vary so you may not use all 4 cups. If you need more liquid, water will be just fine.
8. Add the parmesan cheese and chopped asparagus and mix together.

Lemon Sole Fish Fillet

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup flour
• 3 lemon sole fillets

1. Lightly oil the fish fillets with about 1 tbsp of olive oil.
2. Cover fillets with flour and shake excess off (be careful, lemon sole is fragile).
3. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat, add remaining tbsp of olive oil. Add fish fillets and cook on both sides until opaque. This will take about 2-3 minutes on each side. (My skillet was too small for all three fillets, so I just cooked them one at a time.)
4. Place risotto onto serving plate, top with fish fillet, and add a large dollop of pesto.

Hope you enjoy this dish!

Parmesan Risotto with Leeks and Mushrooms

Having grown up in Alabama, I never really knew what risotto was until I moved to New York. Ever since coming across this Italian staple, this dish has intrigued me—the texture, the flavor, and most of all, the technique for making it. For this last reason, I have always shied away from preparing it myself.

Well, it was time to conquer my fear and try it myself. When learning how to make something new, I resort to the internet. So yesterday I read through about 20 recipes for risotto. In the end, I learned that risotto is not hard to make, but it does require some consistent tending to.

Once I figured out the basic techniques, it was time to figure out what I wanted in my risotto. I was looking for subtle flavors that together would build a strong flavor. Okay…leeks. I love these onion-like vegetables yet I have not cooked with them in quite a while. What else... Cheese, Parmesan to be exact. I wanted the texture to be especially smooth and creamy, and this cheese would help me accomplish this task. Lastly, mushrooms. I wanted to add a meaty substance without using meat so these did the trick. I also decided to cook the risotto with some white wine to add a nice twist.

The final product was quite good, but also very rich. I used ¼ cup of half and half, which I had in my refrigerator and needed to use up. I think the recipe can do without this step if you want to make it less rich. I also used ½ pound of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms, which I think was too much. Therefore, in the recipe below I am lowering the amount and also recommending that you cut the slices into quarters to help the mushrooms blend in better. If you want to use this risotto as a side dish, you might want to eliminate the mushrooms altogether as the leeks and cheese on their own make for a really nice companion to a main dish.

Okay, here is the recipe for about 2-3 main dish servings (5 or 6 side servings):

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large leek, white and pale green part sliced lengthwise, then chopped across (don’t forget to rinse the chopped pieces)
• 1/3 lb cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced then quartered
• 1 cup Arborio rice
• ¾ cup dry white wine
• ¾ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup half and half cream (optional)
• Chopped parsley to garnish

1. In a covered pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a low setting.
2. As broth is heating up, add 2 tbsp olive oil and leeks to a large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté leeks until they just begin to brown.
3. At the same time, in another sauté pan over medium to medium low heat, add remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and mushrooms. Cook until tender. Once cooked, put mushrooms aside.
4. When the leeks are ready, add the Arborio rice and mix until the rice is glistening with the olive oil.
5. Pour wine into the leeks and rice mixture and stir constantly until absorbed (the mixture will be thick and creamy).
6. Add 1/2 cup of broth and mix until the rice again absorbs the liquid and reaches a thick, creamy consistency. Continue this process, pouring only 1/2 cup of broth at a time, until the rice is tender. This should take about 20 minutes. Also note, that the amount of broth needed will vary so you may not use all 4 cups. If you need more liquid, water will be just fine.
7. Mix in cheese, cream, and mushrooms.
8. Serve, garnished with chopped parsley.

Enjoy!