Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Refrigerator Velcro Rice

This isn't so much a recipe, as a formula, I guess. Or a suggestion of a recipe. I've been eating a variation on this for a little while now- and it's tasty hot or cold.

The current incarnation is:

1 cup rice (I used medium grain- it is closer to a risotto rice, but costs an assload less.)
a dab or two of olive oil
about a quarter cup or so of red lentils
2 1/2 cups broth (veggie or chicken)
about 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
mrs. dash or whatever herb blend you love
Veggies- whatever you've got that would taste good together- this time I did a half container of baby bellas, about 3 cups of spinach, a bit of bell pepper, an onion, and a fresh tomato.

Saute your rice in a dab of olive oil as you would for risotto (until you sort of smell the rice, and a good portion of the grains are somewhat translucent) add in your red lentils, the broth, and a good portion of your dried herbs. Pop the lid on, simmer, and while that's working, cook up your veggies. I cooked the onion a little first, then added the sliced mushrooms, and the pepper and cooked it all till the mushrooms were nice and brown, then added my spinach and about 1/4 cup water, and slipped the lid on, and turned the heat off. Once the rice and lentils are tender (don't worry if there's still some liquid in the pan, it's all ok.) add in the veggies, parmesan, and toss in your diced tomato. Stir everything together to incorporate, salt and pepper it, and you're done!

IF you take this to lunch the next day, I recommend a dab of water in the container you reheat it in- keeps it from being all glue-y.