Rice Chix

I was tempted to title this blog post "Chicken Little." While we were out in West Marin the other day, we stopped at Marin Sun Farms to buy eggs and I came away with a nice little chicken, too. It was slightly larger than a poussin, but a very young yardbird, indeed.

Today, I turned it into dinner.

I had been thinking about not roasting another chicken; have I finally gotten my fill? For the moment, it would seem so.

I had made some chicken stock from the bones of the last chicken I roasted and got busy doing something else so it cooked a long, long time before I strained out the bones and chilled it to remove the fat. It was so concentrated that it jelled in the fridge - future chicken goodness.

I had four leeks in the fridge that were crying out to be made into something. It's one of the good things about leeks - they will keep in the fridge for quite some time, until your creative juices have the leisure to come up with a good idea for dinner.

And because I had a hankering for some of that sublime Massa brown rice, I was mulling over ideas to incorporate those ingredients in some sort of skillet dinner. If I may say so, I succeeded big time.

First, I cut up the chicken into serving-size pieces. Did you know that if you cut up your own chickens, you save a significant amount of moolah over buying already-pieced chickens? It's not difficult and takes just a few more minutes with a good sharp knife.

Anyway, I browned the pieces, skin side down, in a mixture of olive oil and butter until they took on a golden hue, removed them from the pan and dumped in the rice, which I tossed to coat with the butter/oil/chicken drippings in the pan, cooking it for a few minutes until some of the grains turned opaque, then added the chicken broth and a heaping tablespoon each of two kinds of Dijon mustard, the brown one with whole mustard seeds and the smooth yellow one.

Once the mustards were swirled into the chicken stock and rice mixture, I added the sliced leeks and eased the chicken pieces down into this mustardy hot tub, clapped on the lid and lowered the flame to simmer.

Massa rice takes almost an hour to cook so we decorated our Christmas tree to keep ourselves busy while that pan of chicken sent out the most tantalizing smells. We hung the ornaments one by one, remembering the source of each one, awash in memories while the chicken steeped in mustardy broth. The little black and yellow bee with spun glass wings that we found in Antwerp when we were in Belgium for Christmas. The ratty old glass balls that came out of my parents' attic when they passed away. The funny star My Beloved's girls made for us when we shared a Christmas in Hawaii. The Santa lovingly hand-painted by my nephew when he was a little boy about the age of his daughters now. The clothespin toy soldiers my first mother-in-law made during her crafty stage. The beautifully handmade ornament my brother's wife bought for us in Vienna. Each one has a memory attached.

We plugged in the colorful lights, plated our killer dinner and enjoyed the tree while we sampled our Rice Chix. The rice had absorbed all the flavors of the pot while lending its own nutty goodness. The chicken and the leeks had relaxed like guests at a friendly Christmas party. It was so good, we were tempted to have seconds, although we are trying not to add to our avoirdupois over the holidays. We restrained ourselves, just barely. My Beloved suggested that next time I should add some mushrooms and I think he's right, but it was deeply satisfying just as it was.

Rice Chix

1 small organic, pastured chicken, cut into serving size pieces

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

1 cup organic brown rice, preferably Massa rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 heaping Tablespoon brown Dijon mustard with whole mustard seeds

1 heaping Tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard

4 leeks, washed and chopped

* 1 dozen mushrooms, rinsed, patted dry and cut into quarters

In a wide, shallow skillet, brown the chicken pieces thoroughly in the butter and oil mixture over a medium flame. Remove chicken to a plate while you scatter the rice into the chicken goozle in the pan. Cook until about half the rice grains have turned opaque.

Add the chicken stock and the two mustards, mixing until well incorporated. Add the chopped leeks. Nestle the chicken pieces back into the pan, cover and reduce the heat to simmer for about an hour. It will be a little soupier than risotto. Plate with the rice underneath the golden brown chicken pieces - it would look great served on a big, deep platter at a family dinner, allowing everyone to serve themselves.

*If you use the mushrooms, I'd brown them before the chicken, then set them aside while you brown the chicken in the same pan, then set that aside and so on.

Garlicky, Shroomy Rice

Still on that green garlic kick that we began when we found a nice big bunch of the lovely stuff at the farmer's market this week, I decided to cook some rice to accompany our lumpy chicken. I had a little mixed rice package and decided to doctor that up.

The rice package was a mix of red, wild, black and brown rices, so it already had variety and nuttiness going for it. I sautéed three bulbs of coarsely chopped green garlic and two or three sliced crimini mushrooms in about a tablespoon of butter before adding 1-1/4 cups of the rice to sizzle and pop for a few minutes. Then, in went two cups of organic chicken broth. I brought it all to a boil, then turned it to the lowest burner setting, put on the lid and let it simmer quietly for about 50 minutes.

The criminis all but dissolved, leaving behind just their rich earthiness. The green garlic gave us that allium savoriness. The rice medley was nutty and bumpy. All in all, one of the best easy rice dishes I've ever concocted and there's plenty for another meal or two.

Rice-a-Zoomie

I don't suppose I am the very first person to invent this rice dish, so I probably haven't really earned naming rights, but I'm so gosh-darn proud of it that I'm claiming it anyway.

It's pretty simple, really, just green garlic sauteéd in butter, then tossed with Massa brown rice, which are then cooked in water for about 50 minutes before being tossed with just about two tablespoons of homemade bacon bits and whole, roasted Massa almonds.

You gotta serve it quick-quick as the almonds quickly re-absorb water and lose their crisp crunch; the flavor is still wonderful, of course, but the snap is lost. I love snap, so I had the rest of the meal ready to go before stirring in the bacon and almonds.

Smoky and ever-so-slightly-salty from the bacon with savory undertones from the green garlic, this rice as serious temptation to eat 'way too much. We had to quickly slip the rest into the fridge for a subsequent meal or My Beloved and I would have simply stood over the pot with our forks and competed with each other for bites of Rice-a-Zoomie.

Another Win-Win

Did you know that Massa also grows almonds? Well, duh, you'd think I'd have noticed this before but I was so focused on their delicious rice that I missed this entirely until last week when I stopped by their booth at the Marin farmer's market to pick up more rice. The man behind the counter had two enormous bags of almonds on either side of the rice, one of roasted and one of raw.

Yes, please!

I asked for half a pound of each, mixed in the same bag. We've been snacking on them all week. No salt, just plain, they are crisp and bright in flavor with a lighter texture than most almonds. The roasted ones are toasty and the raw ones are mellow. Simply to die for. Really, as good as the rice is, and that's saying a lot. We've had to restrict ourselves to a small handful to share before dinner, or we'd devour the whole pound in just a day or so.

I'm going to try making the rice with some onion, chicken broth and, at the last minute, tossing in some of the roasted almonds. Stand by for a review - I think it's going to be another win-win from Massa.

Trying Tamales

Funny that after all these years of living in California and loving Mexican food as I do, I had never tried tamales. My friend the Mad Meat Genius decided I needed to remedy that so he brought me six lovely tamales made by a wonderful Mexican lady he knows.

We met at Catahoula for a cup of coffee and the tamale exchange even though he had been sick for a week and was still feeling pretty shaky. He is a good man.

He said that all I needed to do was to heat them briefly in the microwave and serve them with a little hot sauce. He even provided the hot sauce, about which I will write tomorrow.

Then, he learned that I had never had homemade frijoles refritos (refried beans) and the look on his face was one of classic disbelief. Never?? So, he gave me a quick rundown of his recipe, pointed me toward a tiny Salvadorean market up the street where I could purchase the traditional pinto beans, made me promise faithfully to try them, and retired to his bed to rest up for his next Meat Adventure.

I snagged the last package of pintos from the little market and took my loot home. The beans need to soak for several hours so I covered them with water and went off to do other things, returning in the late afternoon to drain, then simmer them for an hour or so, until they were very soft. I also decided to make some Mexican rice to accompany the rest, which turned out to be a stellar idea. I had no recipe for the rice, so I winged it, just trying to duplicate the flavors I find when we eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I wasn't totally successful at copying but the rice I made was - dare I say? - even better.

The tamales were pure Mexican cielo - tender pork with green chilies, wrapped with corn masa and steamed inside the corn husks. We unwrapped the husks to find the masa imprinted with the texture of the wrapping, gently lifted out the tamales and dove in. No wonder Chilebrown wanted me to try these! Fantástico! We are deeply, deeply in his debt.

Mexican Rice

1 cup brown rice
1 Tbs butter
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 Tbs. chopped tomatoes, plus juice from the can (about 3 Tbs? of juice)
2 small minced sweet peppers, about 1/2 cup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp chili powder

Melt the butter in a medium sized pot and sauté the onions in it for a few minutes. Add rice and toss in the oniony butter until coated and cook until the grains turn opaque, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Add the chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients, stirring to mix thoroughly, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and keep covered. Brown rice takes a little longer to cook - about an hour.

Homemade Frijoles from Chilebrown's Directions

1/2 lb pinto beans
2 Tbs bacon fat
4 cups water
garlic salt to taste
about 1 cup water in which beans were cooked

Soak the beans for several hours, or overnight (Chilebrown doesn't soak his beans). Drain and place in a pot with water to cover by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer for about an hour, or until the beans are very soft and ready to be mashed. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking water.

Melt bacon fat in a wide frying pan (cast iron works well). Toss the drained beans in the bacon fat until well coated. With a potato masher, mash the beans, adding enough cooking liquid to achieve the desired consistency and continuing to mash and add liquid - the beans will absorb a surprising amount of the liquid. Sprinkle with garlic salt (Chilebrown just mentioned salt, but I got a nifty new garlic salt grinder for Christmas so I strayed into unknown territory here) to taste and mix it in. My refritos had more texture than I'm used to seeing in Mexican restaurants, more "rustic," but we actually liked that better. Serve hot. If had thought to include some sprigs of cilantro, this would have been a prettier picture.

Care Package

Is our government still sending CARE packages? Have you read 84 Charing Cross Road? I hope so, and yes, I did, respectively. I grew up with the happy knowledge that my government was helping our allies and former enemies, and I loved the diffident relationship between a British bookseller and a struggling American writer. So, when my own CARE package arrived from friends Wenirs and Ray last week, I was delighted.

Among the various goodies in the package were an herbed salami, a nicely nutty Gruyere cheese, salt caramels, a block of rich dark chocolate and a package of red rice from the Camargue region in France. As a girl, I was horse crazy and lusted after one of the white horses of the Camargue so, surprisingly, I knew where the Camargue was (southern France) and that the region is famous for its rice as well as its horses.

I cooked it up with onion and chicken stock to accompany a dinner of Cornish hens, which it did admirably, but the real home run with this rice as a breakfast food this morning. It has a nutty flavor and the outer hull is a little bit chewy with a creamy soft middle. The chicken stock enriched it and the onion sweetened it just a bit. With a dash of salt and a tad of butter, it made a sustaining breakfast and I felt well CAREd for. Thanks, Ray and Wenirs!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

When I was a little kid trying to imitate my big sister and older brother, they would mock me with "Monkey see, monkey do!" It made me cry. Lots of things the older kids did made me cry. I'd like to say that my tears made them sorry, but they didn't unless Mom intervened and even then they weren't truly sorry, just sorry they got caught. Such is the tough life of the youngest kid. Heavy sigh.

So, here I am, about 55 years later, still imitating my "big sister," in this case Cookiecrumb, who has been blogging longer than I.

She made fried rice a few days ago (March 22nd) and, as is often the case, I wanted to copy her. Oh, I made a few tweaks because I had different ingredients in the fridge but it's essentially the same. I put in some green garlic, celery, onions, carrot, chopped cabbage, scrambled egg and leftover corned beef from St. Patrick's Day. I fried the veggies by density so they'd all be done perfectly at the same time, starting with the carrots and corned beef, and working my way to the cabbage and lastly the leftover rice. Then I pushed it all to one side in the wide pan I used and poured the egg into the other half, swirling it around until it was just set before cutting it into pieces and mixing it in with the rest of the ingredients. The result was a fun confetti of flavors, but anyone who saw this would chant, "Monkey see, monkey do!" in that nasty sing-song voice the big kids always used.

Rice, It's Not Just For Dinner Any More

My Mom, being the good mother that she was, sometimes got up early to make us hot cereal for breakfast before packing us off to school. It wasn't her fault that those hot cereals triggered a strong gag reflex in me.

I'm not sure why, as the flavors are mild and mostly inoffensive, but I simply can't face most hot cereals, even when loaded with butter and brown sugar. Oatmeal seems positively slimy, Wheatena has that weird husk thing going on and Cream of Wheat - well, let's just not go there. Mom even tried pouring hot milk over Grape Nuts - gag me with a spoon!

I'm perfectly okay with cold cereals and I'm especially fond of the crispy ones, but hot cereal - uh, no.

Until on the joyous blog, Gluten Free Girl, I read that Shauna's friend, Sharon Anne Jensen, likes hot rice for breakfast. Rice? For breakfast? Well, I guess it is a cereal...okay, gotta try it!

So, I bought a bag of that incredible Massa brown rice at the farmer's market one day and cooked it up for dinner, leaving enough to try for breakfast the next morning. Sharon suggested treating it like oatmeal, adding a little warm milk and brown sugar or raisins or fresh fruit, but I thought I'd try it first just plain, with a little butter, as my Mom used to serve those other unmentionables.

Success the first try! The rice has a great nutty flavor, the butter added just enough richness, and there was no slime anywhere. I may even work up the courage to try the milk-and-brown-sugar routine tomorrow. At last, a hot cereal for those of us who hate hot cereals.

Thanks, Sharon and Shauna!

Green Tomato Rice

Looking around online for an appealing recipe to use up my two green tomatoes, I came across this one for Green Tomato Rice by Diana Rattray on About.com.

It made a nice side dish, similar to Spanish Rice, but more tart and with a little bit of habanero kick from the last pepper, now dried and shriveled, that I was gifted from Chilebrown a couple of months ago. What's not to like about a rice recipe that includes tomatoes, onions, chicken broth and bacon? I could have added the Parmesan cheese option, too, but I decided to try the undressed first. I will try the Parm tonight on the leftovers*.

If you have a few nice, tart green tomatoes still clinging to your vines, here's a tasty use for them.

*I tried the Parm but it didn't thrill me, although it did add another layer of flavor and earthiness to the rice. My tongue preferred the plainer rice, finding enough diversity of taste in the bacon, onion and green tomato.

The Blessings of Orangette

There are reasons why I read Orangette regularly and await each week's new post with anticipation. That girl can write!

She makes even simple dishes sound like a piece of heaven and often gives the reader insight into her life while writing about what she's cooking this week. She gives me inspiration to try dishes I might never otherwise attempt. I find that if Molly says they are good, they are really, really good!

An example is these roasted tomatoes stuffed with rice, about which she blogged last week. I've tried stuffed peppers, zucchinis and mushrooms but I had never tried stuffing tomatoes, except fresh ones filled with shrimp salad or the like. The dish was so simple that I actually had all the ingredients (except the fresh basil, which I borrowed from a neighbor) on hand so I followed Molly's stern orders and tried them out.

These are killer tomatoes. Absolutely rich tasting, despite the simple ingredients. The tomato shells relax and turn a little sloppy in the oven but they retain their beautiful colors. I used three different kinds of heirloom tomatoes and all were lovely, just perfect beside whatever else you're serving, or terrific on their own. Molly's recipe, which she borrowed from the Wednesday Chef (I love that about the interweb - trading recipes with friends you've never met) asks for fine bread crumbs but I went for coarse ones just to be contrary, and either would be fine.

The last few blessings of really ripe tomatoes are upon us - make the most of yours by preparing them this way!

Weather Report From Heaven

Two blissfully warm days in a row - it must truly be spring, Time to start barbecuing again. Oh, we've sneaked in the occasional charcoal-grilled meal during the slightly cooler months that Californians call winter but now it's serious, so we hauled out the Weber grill that My Beloved's generous mother gave us years ago. It lights the charcoal using a bottled gas boost - easy as pie.

I had a pasture-raised tri-trip roast from Marin Sun Farms and half a pot of leftover coffee so, taking a leaf from Cookblog's book, I made a sort of bastard teriyaki sauce with soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, garlic, wine vinegar and coffee and marinated the beef in that for several hours before throwing it onto the grill. Served with My Beloved's contribution of artichokes and some of the leftover gooey rice, we basked in the flavors and the warmth of the late-setting sun.

Sometimes, life is so good that no words will suffice.

Gooey Rice

To go with our grilled pork medallions, I wanted to use some Massa brown rice, but I was looking for a little extra flavor since the rest of the meal was fairly bland. I sauteed some chopped onion in about a tablespoon of bacon fat, until it was nicely brownish, then added the rice, cooking it in the onion-bacon mixture for a few minutes before adding chicken broth and simmering, covered, for about 50 minutes.

When I put the medallions on the grill, I started the beans and added brightly green scallions to the rice pot, stirring them in and letting them cook gently for the 5-10 minutes or so it took to grill the pork and steam the beans.

I'd describe the rice as bacon-onion risotto except that I've never made a risotto in my life. The smoky bacon flavor pervaded the dish and the rich onion flavor complemented the nutty rice. The texture was creamy/gooey, as if I had added stock and stirred every few minutes when, in fact, all I did was put on the lid, set the timer and go bug My Beloved for a while.

Cool Curry Salad

My Beloved and I are hot weather wimps, having lived so long in the cool Bay area where spring temperatures are likely to hover around 65F; when the thermometer rises about 75F, we start to wilt. At 88+, we become melting puddles of whine.

Little did I know when I set out to use up some leftover brown rice from Massa Organics, that I would invent a great salad for a blistering hot Northern California day. I was just thinking of all the good, fresh veggies I'd like to add to the rice, never suspecting that the weather was going to turn from coolish to ovenish overnight.

I love curry flavor so I used that as the baseline, mixing curry powder with about a walnut of mayo and a blob of ricotta cheese I found at the back of the fridge (still good!). I added some lemon juice, as the mayo-ricotta was too bland and ended up adding a full juicy lemon's worth (make your curry sauce much more tart than you ultimately want, as the bland veggies will buffer it).

Then I chopped some celery, scallions, raw broccoli florets and added biggish chunks of ripe avocado and fresh English peas, and mixed those into the curried rice in about a 1-1 ratio of rice to veggies. Tasted it, and it was pretty good but it still lacked a little something so I thought to add raisins to get some sweet into the tart/savory blend, They were perfect, adding visual punch as well as a sweet note. I would have added bacon bits if I had had any. A little S&P and you're there.

The finished salad was delicious next to the cold chicken we had left over from the previous night's mint chicken and even good the second day, when the weather turned even hotter.

Would somebody please call the Fog Man and tell him we're ready for relief?