This week's recipe is:
Spanish Rice
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| (Click to enlarge) |
For this recipe there isn't a set list of ingredients because the beauty of this dish is that you can add whatever you like. The main ingredient is of course rice and for this I recommend white long grain rice for best results - natural or wild rice is better for you but lacks the versatility which white long grain rice has. I have used natural rice for my example dish because there was no white long grain rice in the cupboard this morning.
The basic ingredients are:
- rice
- stock
- olive oil
Method:
Place a few tablespoons of olive oil into a pan. Turn the heat to a medium flame/heat and add the (washed and dried) rice and gently fry until the rice is a golden brown color (if using natural or wild rice then fry for about 5 minutes). In the meantime in a separate pan boil up about a liter of water, add 1 stock cube, and stir. When the rice is sufficiently hot add the stock, cover with a lid or foil - making sure to leave some space open for steam to escape, turn down the heat a little, and continue to cook for about 10 to 15 minutes (until the rice is almost cooked). Make sure to check and if needed top up with more boiling water or stock. Next add whichever ingredients you wish to add (I used mushrooms, olives, almonds, grapes, dates, raisins and placed a half egg on the top with a piece of seaweed), and cook for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot.
With this dish I wanted to drink something light and healthy so I foraged some stinging nettles and made stinging nettle tea.
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| (Stinging nettle tea) |
Cooking tip:
- There is no need to add seasoning to this dish because the stock will have enough salt in but you can add pepper and if you would like to spice the dish up then adding spices at the beginning when you are frying the rice really brings out the intensity of the spice, such as hot pepper.
- When your dish is almost ready turn off the heat and let it cook for the remaining time in its own heat under the foil or lid.
- This dish also works well with lentils (instead of rice).
Pimp it up:
- The pimping up aspect of this dish would come into play with the adding of 'funkier' ingredients towards the end of the cooking process. You could easily turn this dish into a paella and there is no shortage of expensive seafood in Prague. You could also pimp it up with some local smoked sausage for example, paired with pear or apple. I always like to spoon my cooked rice into a small bowl or large cup and then place the plate over the end of the bowl or cup and turn over so that the presentation is there and it's very easy to do this with rice.
Hope it helps!
Dobrou chut!/Bon appetit!
Neville :-)
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