Rice with Spring Peas, Asparagus and Mushrooms

You can call this risotto but I cooked the rice separately, so maybe not. It's still delicious, and much less labor intensive than true risotto.
As always, the quality of the ingredients makes all the difference. Local asparagus, English peas shelled from the pods, and a small amount of chanterelle mushrooms (along with "baby bellas") were the flavor stars here -- all enhanced by good quality shaved Parmesan cheese and a healthy shot of garlic.
Make the veggie melange, stir in the pre-cooked brown rice (Trader Joe's has frozen brown rice that you microwave, super easy and delish, too), top with the cheese and voila! Yummy.
I did this free form and will try to reproduce the recipe here. Substitute fresh morel mushrooms if you can get them.

Recipe: Brown Rice with Peas, Asparagus and Mushrooms
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2-3 T olive or canola oil, or a blend
2 cups sliced mushrooms, whatever variety you like
1 cup shelled peas
2 cups sliced asparagus
2 T minced garlic
Salt and pepper
1/4 - 1/3 cup broth or stock
2 cups cooked rice, preferably brown rice
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and stir-fry until they begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Add next 5 ingredients (peas through stock) and stir-fry for 3 minutes to blend ingredients. Cover and cook another few minutes until veggies are crisp-tender. (Test with a fork, or try a piece of asparagus.) Stir in rice and cover again. Cook just until the rice is heated through, probably about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese; adjust seasonings and add more salt and pepper, if desired.
That's it!

Holiday-worthy recipes, part 1

Wild Rice Pilaf

Yes, it's early to be thinking about what to cook for Thanksgiving and the December holidays, but I made this wild rice dish (with pecans and dried cranberries) last week and thought about how good it would be with chunks of leftover turkey.
Even without the turkey, it turned out quite tasty and we ate it for days, first as a side dish at dinner. The leftovers made a terrific lunch served at room temperature and tossed with pieces of lettuce.

I cooked the rice mix in brewed green tea, just for the kick of it. But you can substitute water or broth as cooking liquid for the rice.

Recipe: Tea-Infused Wild Rice Pilaf

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 cups lightly salted water

4 tea bags

1 ½ cups wild rice mix (wild and other rice, boxed)

2 T canola oil

1 leek, chopped

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and black pepper, to taste

½ c chopped pecans

½ c dried cranberries

2 T olive or sesame oil, or one tablespoon of each

¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (tarragon and parsley are nice)

1 – 2 cups bite-size pieces of turkey or chicken (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, bring the salted water to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the teabags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the teabags and bring the water back to the boil.

2. Stir in rice, cover and reduce heat to simmer. When rice is tender (about 12-15 minutes), remove from heat and drain off any excess moisture (rice should be fairly dry). Set aside.

3. While the rice is cooking, heat the canola oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add leek, shallot and garlic, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until vegetables begin to tenderize.

4. Add rice to the frying pan and stir until heated, about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Stir in pecans, cranberries, oils and herbs. Add turkey or chicken, if using, and stir well. Remove to a serving dish or spoon onto plates.

Arroz Verde

This is from today's Healthy Eating column in the New York Times.

The author says the rice will be a beautiful green color if you use white rice -- I love the flavor of arborio rice, a white variety. Brown rice makes a more healthful, fiber-filled dish, however. Your decision!

Recipe: Green Rice (Arroz Verde)
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken, vegetable or garlic stock, or water

1 cup tightly packed baby spinach

1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves

Salt to taste

1 tablespoon canola oil or extra virgin olive oil

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup long grain rice or basmati rice, rinsed several times with cold water

Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Combine 1 cup of the stock or water with the spinach and cilantro in a blender, and blend at high speed until smooth. Place the remaining stock or water in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer.

2. Heat the oil in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, three to five minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and the garlic and rice. Stir together for a few minutes until the rice is beginning to crackle. Add the simmering stock or water and salt to taste (I use about 3/4 teaspoon). Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer five minutes.

3. Uncover, and stir in the blended green mixture from the blender. Rinse the blender with about 1/4 cup water, and add it to the rice. Stir once, raise the heat and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Turn off the heat, uncover and place a clean kitchen towel over the pot. Replace the lid, and allow the rice to stand undisturbed for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a spoon or fork, taste and adjust seasoning. Serve.

OMG -- a rice dish to die for

Wow, did this turn out fabulous.
I'm not going to call it risotto because I didn't use the tedious technique of constant stirring to absorb the liquid, bit by bit. There's no way it could have tasted better if I had, by the way.

The inspiration behind this creation was my coming into possession of a few rare, fine seasonal ingredients, especially fiddlehead ferns, morel mushrooms and fresh peas -- all from local sources and purchased at Findlay Market last weekend.

I added a little bit of lamb sausage for flavor, a small amount of local asparagus, and a few seasonings including a pinch of that magic ingredient, saffron.

I cooked the rice with only a bit of shallot and garlic and used chicken stock for the liquid. A couple of minutes before all the liquid was absorbed, I added the peas so they could steam. In a separate pan, I sauteed the mushrooms, ferns and asparagus, mixing that in with the rice at the last minute.

If you don't have all these ingredients, do not despair. You can substitute portabella or button mushrooms for the morels -- in fact, I used some portabella with the morels because I had only a tiny amount of the latter. Fiddlehead ferns are almost impossible to find, so just omit them unless you have a source. Substitute another kind of sausage for the lamb, if necessary, or drop it entirely and use vegetable stock instead of chicken to make the dish vegetarian.

It's a one-dish meal, but you might also serve a salad and crusty bread.

Recipe: Rice with Sausage and Spring Vegetables
Serves 4

Ingredients:
For the rice --
2-3 T olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups arborio or other short-grain rice
3 cups chicken stock, or a mixture of stock and water, heated in the microwave or in a saucepan until it's hot but not boiling
Salt and pepper
Pinch of saffron
1 cup shelled fresh peas
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, plus more at table

For the veggies --
1 large lamb, chicken or turkey sausage, cut into 3/4-inch slices
1 cups sliced mushrooms, preferably morels
1 cup fiddlehead ferns (optional)
1 cup fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch slices
2 T water or stock
Salt and pepper


Instructions:

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat the rice well with the oil.
Add stock one cup at a time, stirring, and bringing the mixture to a low boil before you add more liquid.
When all the stock is added and the mixture has returned to a boil, add saffron, salt and pepper, cover and reduce heat to low. The rice will take about 18-20 minutes to be completely done.

Meanwhile, in a smaller skillet, cook the sausage until it browns, about 3-4 minutes on medium high heat. Drain excess oil, remove sausage to a plate and wipe the pan until just a thin coating of grease remains.
Add vegetables and saute over medium heat, adding liquid as needed for some moisture, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper and reduce heat to low.
Uncover rice about 5 minutes before it's done and gently stir in the peas. Cover again.

When rice is done (taste it), stir in vegetable mixture. Remove from heat and add cheese.

Spoon into bowls, adjust seasonings (add more salt and/or pepper if needed), and pass more cheese at the table.

It may sound complicated but it is SO worth it; everyone in your family will moan with pleasure and lick the plate. Seriously.