Garlic Rice Pilaf

My favorite meal as a child was a chicken and rice casserole that my mom made with Lipton's Onion soup mix. I actually still love this meal, but Robert feels that it's too salty so I never make it. When my mom made this meal, she mixed together water, chicken bouillon cubes, margarine, rice and the soup mix together in a pan and set chicken breasts on top and baked it. The absolute best part of that meal was the rice. I would often eat a bowl of that rice for a snack and be completely satisfied.

This garlic rice pilaf is almost as good as the rice from that beloved casserole and it's better for me without all the margarine and sodium in the chicken bouillon and soup mix. This pilaf is a great side dish to accompany any main course protein you have on your menu. Add to its great flavor the fact that its easy to put together and doesn't require a lot of hands on cooking time really make it a great choice for your next dinner party.

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Garlic Rice Pilaf


Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup long grain brown rice
3 large garlic cloves pressed
2 1/2 cups chicken broth divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Heat the butter over medium high heat

saute the rice and garlic until both are golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.

Stir in one cup of the chicken broth and the salt and pepper and bring the liquid to a boil.

Pour into a prepared casserole dish and bake, covered for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and stir in the remaining cup and a half of chicken broth and bake, covered, for 45 more minutes.

Serve with your favorite main course.

Source: Adapted slightly from Annie's Eats

Southwestern Risotto

As I mentioned yesterday, earlier last week I picked up a few pints of roasted hatch chile peppers intent on making two creative recipes with them. The first was the Hatch Chile Chicken Salad, and the second was this Southwestern Risotto. I have never before thought to use peppers of any variety in a risotto, having previously associated the dish with subtler flavor profiles such as mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, and the like. Thursday, however, as I was walking around the produce section at Central Market, Hatch peppers in hand I knew I wanted to see how it would taste in risotto.

So I picked up some corn and cherry tomatoes that I knew would complement the peppers well and picked up a chicken breast to bake and I was ready to give it a whirl. I decided to grill the corn to give a smokiness to the kernels and to go along with the roasted flavor of the peppers. Additionally, I roasted the tomatoes, largely because I much prefer the taste of tomatoes when they are cooked as opposed to raw. I baked a chicken breast half to add, but you could easily use meat from a rotisserie chicken or leftover baked chicken from the night before to simplify the process.

The result was absolutely delicious! The sweetness of the corn and tomatoes was the perfect contrast to the slight heat of the peppers. The chicken added a nice bit of protein, an essential component for any meal for my husband!

One quick note before the recipe. I recently purchased a jar of chicken bouillon for a recipe and it saved me from disaster on this meal! You see, I was well into the risotto process when I discovered I only had half of the chicken broth I needed for the recipe. When I remembered I had chicken bouillon on hand I mixed some up with water, heated it in the microwave and I was ready to go! Crisis averted! So all that to say, it's a good idea to keep some chicken bouillon on hand just in case you find yourself in need of chicken broth at the last minute!

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Southwestern Risotto


Ingredients
1 cup arborio rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Chardonnay
4 cups chicken broth, heated
1/2 cup chopped Hatch peppers, roasted and peeled
2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
You will want to have the corn, chicken, tomatoes and peppers ready when you start the risotto process. Start with grilling the corn, I used my grill pan on the stove top to stay out of the heat. Heat the grill or grill pan over medium high heat and place the cobs directly on the grill.

Cook, turning every 2 minutes, for about 8-10 minutes until fully cooked.

Remove from the grill and cut the kernels from the cob. Place in a bowl and set aside.

While the corn is on the grill, cut the tomatoes in half and drizzle a little olive oil and sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

If you purchase your hatch chile peppers already roasted, simply remove the skin and stem, chop and set aside. If you need to roast them yourself here's some great instructions.

Now that all the star ingredients are prepped, it's on to the risotto!
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a heavy bottomed large pot over medium- high heat.

Add the onions and saute until softened and browned, about 5 minutes.

Add the minced garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 more minutes.

Season with a little salt and pepper then add the cup of arborio rice and stir to coat with the oil.

Pour in the cup of Chardonnay and stir until the rice has absorbed most of the liquid.

 Add a 1/2 cup of warmed chicken broth at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding the next 1/2 cup. Repeat until the rice has reached the desired texture, not mushy but with a little bite like al dente pasta.

Add in the corn,

 hatch peppers,

 chicken,

 and tomatoes,  Stir to combine.

Serve in a bowl and enjoy with a glass of Chardonnay.

Greek Chicken and Spinach Casserole

I pulled this recipe out of the Dallas Morning News about a month ago, and I finally got around to making the casserole this past week! It was rather easy to prepare and very fresh and tasty. I rarely find something in the newspaper that peaks my interest enough to pull out and actually make, but this recipe has convinced me that I should perhaps take a second look at the food section and try some of these recipes out! I think this would also be yummy with orzo pasta rather than rice.

Sleepy puppy.  

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Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup sliced squash (the original recipe called for mushrooms...but I forgot to buy mushrooms and I had squash at home, so that was an easy substitute).
1 cup frozen, chopped spinach
1 cup quick-cooking brown rice, uncooked
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon of Cavendar's Seasoning, or seasoning of choice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups of chicken stock
2 tablespoons shaved Parmesan cheese (the original recipe called for feta...but I really dislike feta)
2 tablespoons slivered almonds

Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
2. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pan and cook until they are tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.

5. Add the chopped squash and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Try to get the pieces of squash the same size to ensure even cooking.

6. Stir the frozen chopped spinach into the pan with the onion and garlic (you can purchase chopped spinach in the frozen section of your grocery store).

7. Cook the spinach until it is thawed and wilted and the extra moisture has evaporated.

8. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the vegetables into the prepared casserole dish.

9. Add the cup of uncooked rice to the casserole dish.

10. Add the seasonings to the casserole dish.
11. Return the heavy pan to the range and heat to medium-high heat with one teaspoon of olive oil and the chopped chicken.

12. Cook the chicken, stirring frequently, for about 5 to 6 minutes. The chicken should be lightly browned on all sides.

13. Spoon the cooked chicken into the casserole dish.

14. Pour the 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock into the heavy pan to deglaze the pan. It would be such a shame to loose all of those layers of flavor! To deglaze the pan, just stir the chicken stock so that any caramelized pieces on the bottom of the pan will release and dissolve into the stock.

15. Pour the chicken stock into the casserole dish and stir everything together.

16. Cover the casserole dish and back for 30 minutes.
17. Remove the casserole from the oven and uncover the dish to add the lemon juice and slivered almonds.

18. Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes. Almonds should be toasted and the rice should be cooked through.
19. Add Parmesan cheese to each serving and enjoy with a hearty bread!

 

Roses from our garden.