Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Dolled Up Rice!


Tried another winner last evening!
So very simple, yet so very tasty.
In these difficult times, we are always looking for a new way to jazz up an old stand-by.
Got this off of Food Network last week and thought it would be a great accompaniment to Parmesan Chicken.
I was right.


GREEN RICE

FOR THE RICE:

1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups long grain white rice
1 TBL kosher salt

FOR THE SPINACH MIX:

1/4 cup or less, olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
s&p

DIRECTIONS:

To make the rice: Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large saucepan with a heavy bottom or small Dutch oven. Add the rice and the salt and stir to coat. When the rice starts to appear opaque and chalky, add enough cold water to cover the rice by the width of 2 fingers (about 1-inch). Bring to a rapid boil, and boil-without stirring!-until the water level reaches the level of the rice. ( I KNOW! THIS IS INSANE!!!) Stir the rice once and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the spinach mix: Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, stirring so it doesn't stick, and cook until fragrant. Stir in the spinach and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the spinach is just heated through. Don't overcook or the spinach will discolor.

Once the rice has finished cooking, fold the spinach into the pot. Fluff the rice so that the spinach is evenly distributed. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary. If you like, add a couple of drizzles of olive oil to give the rice a little gloss.


Now, I have cooked many a pot of rice in my nearly 38 years of marriage, but I have NEVER cooked rice in this manner, until yesterday.

I think I many never go back.

This rice was tender, fluffy, and NOT sticky and gummy!


And, best of all, the combination of the rice, garlic and spinach was fabulous!

Bon Appetit!


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6 comments:

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Yum! I will try that! It looks delicious!

savvycityfarmer said...

It's hard to conjure up an image of "cute rice"...


no really~looks real, well, cute!

Parisienne Farmgirl said...

Ok, I never make rice. I make risotto once or twice a week but I am a rice moron. I really need to get over it.

Victoria said...

I will be trying this in the next couple days. We eat rice about every other meal so I need new ways to dress it up. Thanks!

A Country Homemaker said...

That looks really yummy! I can just never seem to master rice. :-( LOL! I loved your garden pictures as well!

Carrie in Iowa

Sincerely, Emily said...

HI - that rice recipe sounds simple and good too. I will definitely give it a go. I haven't done this in a while and your recipe reminds me to go make it again. I would make white rice and wild rice, mix them together ith some olive oil. Then I would saute and add whatever I had - like chopped green and/or red bell pepper, chopped mushrooms, garlic, chopped onion, green chilies - you get the idea. even add browned ground beef or turkey.....now adding the spinach like you mentioned - that would be great. thanks for sharing. Emily