It's 1992 and I get off of the fishing boat and I'm on my way to Portland, OR, to see Darcys home for the first time. So being the great hostess that she is she starts to make dinner. I'm sorry Darcy, but I can't remember what it was that she made for me but what I'll never forget, and I don't ever let her live it down, is the rice that she attempted to make, bless her dear sweet heart. I walked into the kitchen and there was "something" boiling in a pot, then she takes it off the burner, gets the strainer and dumps it out, it's Uncle Bens minute rice. "GASP"! I was appalled to say the least lol. I made her take me to the grocery store right then and there so that I could buy the "good" stuff according to my All my life, rice eating standards. Medium or short grain, Cal Rose or Niko Niko is the Rice of the Gods for us Polynesians.
I have always made rice in a pot and only recently started using a "rice cooker". Uncle Bens minute rice, until Friday, was taboo in our pantry. But now, getting educated in the many different types of rice and how to prepare them, I'll maybe allow Darcy make room in the pantry for poor misunderstood Uncle Ben.
We made Rice Pilaf in class with Uncle Ben and he proved to be quite yummy after Chef Knaup Demo'd it and we had to make it. Rice is difficult to make in small batches, but it wasn't too bad after it was all said and done. So, let me shed some light to those of you who are in the same frame of mind that I was in and hope that Uncle Ben finds it in his heart to forgive me.
This recipe was very tasty and we made it with water because we were practicing but what you want to do is to make it with Chicken stock and it'll be a lot more flavorful. You are by no means limited in the vegetables you use in this recipe. Use as much or as little as you wish. If you don't like celery well then for heavens sakes don't put it in lol, substitute it with something else that you like.
1oz Butter, 1Tbs. each Onions, Carrots and Celery (fine chopped), 4oz Rice, Long Grain, 8oz Water or Stock, sprig or pinch of Thyme, Bay leaf.
In a different pan/pot bring the water or stock to a boil. Preheat your oven. 350º f if convection oven and 375º f if conventional.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat and add Onions, carrots and celery and any other Vegetable that you might want to add. Sweat, don't Brown for about 3 minutes. Add the Rice and cook for oh about 3 minutes. Brown the rice a little bit. You don't want to have too much butter that will make the rice not only greasy but may burn while your rice is in the oven. When you think that your rice is ready, add the boiling Stock/water and Season with Salt and white pepper. Taste the liquid to make sure that it's seasoned well. Add the Bay leaf and Thyme and stir. Cover and place the pot into the oven and cook for 18-20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and sprigs of Thyme and other herbal sprigs you decided to use. Taking care not to scrape the bottom of the pan/pot (because the bottom might have burned) gently scrape the rice into a different container, fluffing the rice, add the remainder of the vegetables, like frozen peas etc. that are already cooked, into your rice and mix it well. You may add a little bit more butter as desired. And there you have it, Rice Pilaf! Easy peasy.
Unlike last term Chef is not doing as many demos this term. It's all about the monkey see monkey do process this term. Chef says, add the butter, I add the butter, and since I don't have a 3rd hand and eyes in the back of my head to record vids and cook at the same time. Also, because there is a lot of repeating of what we cook in order to etch the process in our brains I'll just have to apologize for the lack of Blogs and vids this term.
Peace and Love to all my readers.
That is my blip for my BFFs today.
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