I love this pilaf because it is my own little one-pot meal invention and it is great comfort food. You can experiment with what fruits, vegetables, and herbs you like, this is just how I made it this time around.
Caroline’s Pilaf
1 cup brown rice, uncooked
1 onion, chopped
a big handful of tomatoes, maybe almost a pint, any kind (I use grape, chop up big ones)
1 red bell pepper, chopped in slices
capers
fresh basil, chiffonade
a few dashes balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
garlic, minced (as much as you like, I put in 4 cloves)
salt and pepper, to taste
chevre (from Guinevere!)
olive oil for cooking
1 1/4 cups water
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add a little salt, then add the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and rice and toast for a few minutes. Add the water, maybe a little more salt, bring to a boil, then cover and cook over low heat. Check once in a while to see if it needs more water. It will probably need to cook for 40-50 minutes, until the rice is tender. When it is ready to serve, add the pepper, balsamic or lemon, capers, basil, and chevre and stir it up well. The chevre will melt and make it kind of like a risotto or cheesy rice (but not risotto!). Serve!
Filed under: Italian, rice | Tags: cheese, gorgonzola, Italian, rice, risotto, vegetarian
This is the ultimate comfort food. Not only is it incredibly rich but it forces me to slow down during its preparation and relieve the stress of life as a college senior. I had everything for this except for the wine on hand. I went to McNally’s and bought Veramonte, a very good Chilean Sauvignon blanc that is modestly priced at $10.99 (not exactly Carlo Rossi cheap but incomprably better). I also used vegetable broth instead of beef broth but you can follow the recipe if you prefer.
Gorgonzola Risotto
2 1/2 cups aborio or other risotto rice
5 tbl unsalted butter
1/2 onion, minced
1/2 glass of white wine, warmed
1 1/2 quarts simmering beef broth
1/2 lb of gorgonzola (1/3 dolce, 2/3 picante… I didn’t follow this)
1 tbl cream
Saute the onion in the butter over low heat until golden. Remove onion with a slotted spoon and toast the rice in the butter over medium heat for a few minutes, coating the grains with fat. Add the onion and wine and cook until evaporated (this will happen quickly). Add broth one ladle at a time. When half cooked (the rule of thumb for risotto is that you’ll be done 17 minutes after you add the wine, but taste it constantly so as not to overcook it and get a mushy risotto), stir in the cheese. Stir to make sure the cheese doesn’t burn and stick to the bottom of the pan. Keep adding ladles until cooked al dente (a little chewy still). When done, stir in cream. Serves 6.
From: http://italianfood.about.com/od/creamyrisotti/r/blr0468.htm
Filed under: Italian, Legumes, rice, soup, vegan | Tags: beans, grain, herbs, kale, kasha, rice, soup, vegan, vegetarian
I try a lot of different recipes but soup has never turned out badly for me. I think that’s why it onto here so often. I clipped this out of a magazine last year (sadly I forget which one) and have since shared it wiht family and friends to their delight. It is incredibly healthy and nourishing and probably tastes better than any other soup you have ever had.
Hearty Grain Soup with Beans and Greens
2 tbls olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 cloves garlic
4 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups cooked kasha (I used brown rice… you put it in uncooked, so 1/2 cup)
15 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1/2 cup dried, soaked overnight, pre-cooked)
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 lb kale, trimmed and chopped (you can use other greens but some hold their shape better than others)
3 tbls chopped fresh parsely
2-3 tsp balsamic vinegar
1. Heat 1 tbls olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, cook 3 min. Add garlic, cook 5 more minutes.
2. Stir in broth, kasha/rice, tomatoes, 1 cup beans, oregano, and rosemary. Bring to boil. Press half of kale/spinach into liquid until it wilts.
3. Press remaining kale/spinach into liquid. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15-20 minutes.
4. Puree remaining beans in food processor. Add pureed beans, parsely, and remaining 1 tbl olive oil to soup. Stir in vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
Per serving: 204 cal, 8g prot, 6g total fat (1g sat fat), 33g carb, 0mg chol, 521mg sod (with low-sodium broth), 7g fiber, 5g sugars
Filed under: ferment, korean, rice | Tags: bokumbap, kimchi, korean, local, rice, vegetarian
I’ve made this a couple times this week before coming across its real name: kimchi bokumbap. I don’t have an exact recipe, but I heated toasted sesame oil in a skillet, sauteed diced onion until soft, added Paul’s Grains brown rice (and sometimes other vegetables from my CSA like eggplant and kohlrabi), added tamari, and then added kimchi to the skillet just until warm. After emptying this into a bowl, I would fry an egg, usually breaking the yoke and cooking that a little too since I don’t really know how to fry an egg. The egg goes in the bowl too. I added peanut sauce a couple times as well and found this superior to the straight up Korean version. You can use any kind of oil, I just like toasted sesame flavor. This meal was entirely local (either from my CSA or Paul’s Grains) except for the oil, tamari, and peanut sauce and is a good way to incoroporate kimichi into a dish. In most Asian recipes, it is more authentic to use white rice. The only reasons I can think of are that white rice keeps a lot longer than brown rice and that people like the taste and texture better. I prefer brown as it has more nutrituonal value.
Last time I posted that you ought not buy kimchi from the store. This was a false claim. Since then I have found kimchi that I believe still has macrobiotic cultures. Investigate for yourself, but I standy by homemade kimchi has superior in flavor.
Filed under: Indian, Legumes, ferment, rice, snack, vegan | Tags: dosa, ferment, Indian, lentils, rice, vegan, vegetarian
I’ve been flipping through Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz and making lists of different ferments I want to try. I like the idea of ingesting live bacteria cultures and of practicing traditional forms of food preservation. There’s a lot of literature on the subject so you don’t need me to give a laundry list of health (and, for some, spiritual) benefits.
Some ferments can take over a year; dosas took 24 hours. Dosas are like the Indian equivalent to a crepe or blini but probably a lot healthier. I ate mine folded in half with yogurt and slices of mango but they are good plain or with a hearty curry.
Here’s what you’ll need:
2 cups rice (I used brown, Katz says white Basmati rice is more authentic if that’s what you’re going for)
1 cup lentils (again, I’ve read that both white and black lentils are more authentic. I used red, Katz has also tried lima beans)
1 cup yogurt or kefir (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 small bunch parsley and/or cilantro, chopped
1 inch gingerroot, grated
vegetable oil
Soak the rice and lentils in water for at least 8 hours or overnight. If you leave them to soak a bit longer and they beging to sour, that’s fine. Strain the rice and lentils. Grind them into a batter with yogurt, kefir, or water in a food processor or other grinding implement. Put the batter in a bowl or jar with plenty of room for it to expland. The batter should be fine, not chunky, and thick, just barely pourable. If necessary, add a little water. Ferment (this means leave it out, not in the fridge) 24 to 48 hours or longer. Once it has risen substantially you can make dosas! If you leave it for a number of days, the sour flavor intensifies. Yum.
Add 1 cup of lukewarm water to the thin the batter. The batter should be liquid to produce thin pancakes. Stir in the parsley and/or cilantro, ginger, and salt. Heat a well-seasoned frying pan with oil. Use a laddle to pout the batter into the center of the pan and then use the bottom of the ladle to spiral the batter from the center out toward the edges of the pan. Cook as a pancake, flipping after bubbles appear. I cooked it on medium-low heat. Don’t expect to get the hang of this right away. My first few dosas were thick and deformed but the last couple that I made were thin and crispy! The dosa should be thin. If necessary, thin the batter by adding more water, yogurt, or kefir. Lightly oil the pan between dosas.
Katz, Sandor Ellix. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company. 2003. 70-71.
