Tag-Archive for ◊ rice ◊

24 Jul 2014 Curried Chicken Meatballs with Apricot Rice Pilaf

curriedmeatballs01

I have a love-hate relationship with America’s Test Kitchen (and their related publications, Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country).  I buy a LOT of their special interest publications. I like to read, and I enjoy reading recipes, and I like trying out new recipes. I like the pictures of each recipe and I like the all the notes that go along with each ATK recipe.  I have made some good things from ATK recipes, but I’ve made some not so good, too.  On the other hand, I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate that I cannot access any of the ATK recipes online without paying for them.  The only way around this is to get the name of the recipe you are interested in and Google it, or look on foodgawker or TasteSpotting for a hit, then go to a food blog, similar to this one, to get the actual recipe.  Compare this to Bon Appetit and Epicurious.  I subscribe to Bon Appetit, but even if I didn’t I could access all of their recipes for free on the Epicurious website, most of which have some wonderfully helpful comments.  I love being able to search Epicurious‘ recipe archives for any recipe they have published over the past years. I often find terrific recipes that way, searching on words such as “soup”,  “blueberries” and “brownies” and then scrolling through all the recipes with that key word. I don’t know why America’s Test Kitchen cannot do the same 😛

Anyways…, enough of my rant and onto my latest America’s Test Kitchen find!

The original recipe (by the same name) was from one of America’s Test Kitchen 30-minute Meals cookbooks.  The meatballs, although very simple with a very plain list of ingredients, are quite tasty and virtually perfect! I wanted to up the curry powder just a bit, but my offspring vetoed that idea,  saying they were good just as they are, so I left the meatball recipe alone (but I did “heap” the 1 T. of curry powder!).  I always make these meatballs with ground chicken, but I see no reason why ground turkey, ground beef, or ground lamb couldn’t be used. The 1 lb. of ground meat makes about 30-36 small meatballs.

I did change the pilaf recipe a quite bit, as ATK’s was much too bland. (Pilaf, by definition, contains rice cooked in broth, ATK version was cooked in water, and only got worse after that.) I substituted butter for vegetable oil, broth for the water and added a bit  more variety, and taste,  with additional veggies, herbs, and garnishes.  I also added a bit of salt and spice…, and the magical touch, a bay leaf and a long piece of lemon peel (both of which are fished out before serving).

I didn’t think it was true, but it was! I was able to make this, from start to finish, in 30-minutes…, AND it was a mighty tasty, spur-of-the-moment dinner!   Serve with a side of veggies, if you want, steamed broccoli would be good… 🙂

Curried Chicken Meatballs with Apricot Rice Pilaf

For Pilaf

  • 1 T butter (approx)
  • ½ -1 cup finely chopped onion (your favorite variety)
  • ½ -1 cup finely chopped mixed vegetables (celery, carrots, bell peppers…)
  • 1 cup long-grain white rice
  • 1 ¾ cups hot chicken broth (or water). OK to sub abut ¼ cup of liquid for ¼ cup white wine (another option: add one long strip of lemon, lime or orange peel-with no white pith attached, to the rice mixture when adding the liquid)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • ½ -1 teaspoon salt (if your broth is salted, you might not need to add too much additional salt)
  • ½ – 1 cup chopped dried apricots or mixture of apricots and other dried fruits (raisins, cherries, cranberries)
  • 1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds or other nuts (pistachios, pine nuts, chopped pecans)
  • 1/4 cup minced cilantro, parsley, basil, green onion, frozen peas, sautéed mushrooms or mint for last minute stir-in and garnish (choose one, maybe two…or three)

 For Meatballs

  • 1 pound ground chicken (or turkey)
  • ½ cup very finely minced raw onion (grated onion works well, too)
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder (maybe a bit more…)
  • 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, or to taste

From start to finish: about 30 minutes

  1. In large saucepan, heat butter over medium-high heat until shimmering.
  2. Add chopped onions and cook until softened, about 4 minutes.
  3. Add rice and cook until mostly opaque, about 4 minutes.
  4. Stir in choice of mixed veggies
  5. Add broth and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. When cooked, remove from heat and let rice stand and steam until needed.
  6. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine chicken, onions, panko, cilantro, curry powder, salt and pepper. Mix with fork until well blended.  Don’t overwork the meat mixture.
  7. Using wet hands (or a small scoop), shape mixture into 1-inch meatballs. (Depending on size, of course, makes about 30-36 meatballs)
  8. Heat a bit of oil in a large frying pan until hot.
  9. Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes, shaking pan as needed.
  10. Cover the pan and steam meatballs over medium heat for an additional 5 minutes.
  11. Now turn your attention back to the rice. Take lid off the pan and gently fluff rice with a fork. Pick out the bay leaves and the optional lemon or orange peel.
  12. Add apricots/dried fruit mixture, toasted almonds/nuts and choice of stir ins to rice (reserve about 1 tablespoon, each, of nuts and green stir-ins). Stir to thoroughly incorporate all ingredients.
  13. Transfer pilaf to a serving platter, top pilaf with hot, browned meatballs, and then sprinkle the reserved 1 T. of  nuts and cilantro, parsley, mint or green onion over the top. Add a serving spoon and . . . .
  14. Dinner is ready! YUM!

curriedmeatballs02

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today 🙂  I hope that you make  and enjoy these and I hope they become a family favorite, as they have in my house!

17 Nov 2010 Wild Rice Turkey Soup

I know you are all busy making your Thanksgiving grocery list, and checking it twice; be SURE you have the ingredients for this soup on the list.  You have to make this with your turkey carcass, have to, have to, have to!  This is the best turkey soup I have ever tasted.  I made no changes to the recipe I found in “The 150 Best American Recipes” cookbook.

Mmmmm… Homey, rustic, northwoods-y…, which, with a little imagination, might just transport you to a log cabin in the snow, fire blazing, a quilt over your feet, and a good book on your knee.  The soup has wild rice, mushrooms and turmeric, yes, turmeric, which compliment the strong flavor of turkey to make a soup that, according to “The 150 Best American Recipes” is “neither exotic nor bland”.  It’s my favorite after-Thanksgiving treat.  I can’t imagine making any other turkey soup.  It’s just the thing for an-after-Thanksgiving restoration, before the Christmas craziness commences.

BTW, I like this soup so much I can’t just make it once a year.  When it’s not Thanksgiving, I start with a whole chicken which I boil or roast.  I remove 4 cups of the meat from the chicken, and then proceed as below.

Wild Rice and Turkey Soup

For stock

1 turkey carcass (remove 4 cups of meat from the carcass-set aside for the soup)
2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped

Put turkey carcass in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, remove any foam from the top. Add the celery, carrot, and onion (peels and all). Simmer for at least 90 minutes (I cooked mine for about 3 hours). Strain broth into a large (4-5 qt) bowl. Discard carcass and all veggies (You will need 3½ – 4½ quarts of stock for this soup). If at all possible, refrigerate stock overnight and then remove all the hardened fat from the top of the broth. The next day continue with the directions below…

For soup

1½ cups wild rice, rinsed (the book specifies “hand harvested” but I couldn’t find that written on the package I bought from Trader Joe’s)
½ cup long grain white rice
4 T. butter
2 cups sliced celery
2 cups sliced carrots
1 diced onion
½ cup sliced green onion
2 T. chopped fresh dill
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
3 cups sliced mushrooms (8 oz. pkg sliced)
4 cups diced cooked turkey
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 3 ½ quarts of stock to a boil. Stir in rinsed wild rice and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet; add celery, carrots, onion, and green onions and saute for 5 minutes. Stir in dill, bay leaves and turmeric. Turn off heat, and set aside. Add white rice and sauteed veggies to the stock and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir sliced mushrooms and diced turkey into hot soup. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked. Add more broth if the soup gets too thick for your taste (I added the extra 4 cups). Season to taste with salt (I used 2 tsp. Kosher salt) and pepper. This makes a lot of soup. The recipe says the soup freezes well for several months. If you do reheat the soup, it will have thickened and you will need to add more broth or water when reheating.

You’re going to love this, I just know it!  Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today.

18 Sep 2010 Lamb Meatballs in a Coconut Curry Sauce

Another winner from the The Meatball Cookbook Bible!  My elder daughter, who has her own apartment, has stopped by twice, in two days, for a bowl of leftovers.  I knew she liked lamb, but I think this is the first time she has taken a shine to curry.  As with the other recipes from this book, the dish is not complex, but it’s fun, a bit different and still has all the elements of family friendly comfort food.  Umm, well, that is if your family tastes lean to the slightly exotic, spicy side.

I used the full 3 tablespoons of curry powder when I made this, but next time I’ll probably reduce that a bit.  The curry was just on the uncomfortable side of spicy for me, but I am a wimp, a real wimp, when it comes to hot and spicy food.  I left out the dried apricots and the currants, too.  It didn’t appeal to me in the curry, but for some reason I think adding them to the couscous would be OK.  Does that make any sense at all?  No, I didn’t think so.

Lamb Meatballs in a Coconut Curry Sauce

1 egg
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs (find them in the Asian section of the supermarket)
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons sesame oil
8 green onions, chopped (use all of white part and up to 2 inches of the dark green tops)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
1 1/4 lbs ground lamb
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons of curry powder
1 14-oz can coconut milk (find in the Asian section of your supermarket. Do not use low fat, and do not use Cream of Coconut)
1/2 cup chicken stock (or water)
1/2 cup chopped apricots
3 tablespoons dried currants (or chopped raisins)
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons cold chicken stock or water
vegetable oil spray (Pam)
4 servings plain cooked couscous, rice or rice pilaf

Combine egg and soy sauce in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.  Stir in Panko and cilantro.  Set aside to soak.

Heat sesame oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add green onions, garlic and ginger.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.

Add half of green onion mixture to bread crumb mixture and stir to combine.  Add in ground lamb.  Blend meatball mixture together by tossing gently.  Do not compress mixture, toss.  Form meat mixture into approx. 2 inch meatballs.  Roll balls lightly between palms.  Place formed meatballs on a foil covered, rimmed baking sheet.  (If desired, meat mixture or meatballs can be refrigerated for a few hours or overnight–be sure to remove remaining onion mixture from the pan and refrigerate that, too.)

Preheat broiler.  Spray meatballs with vegetable oil (Pam, or something similar). Broil meatballs for approx 6 minutes.  Shake pan, or turn meatballs half way through the cooking time.  While meatballs are browning, finish the sauce.

Return frying pan with remaining green onions back to burner.  Stir in curry powder and cook over low heat for one minute.  Stir in coconut milk, chicken broth and dried fruit if you are using it.  Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Add hot meatballs to simmering sauce, cover, and let simmer for an additional 15 minutes.

Remove lid from pan. Add cornstarch and water mixture to bubbling sauce, stirring constantly.  Cook for 1 or 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.  Taste sauce and season with salt and pepper, if needed.

Serve sauce over hot cooked couscous, rice or rice pilaf (and maybe a simple steamed green vegetable on the side).

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!  Hope you liked the meatballs.  See you again soon?  I’ve got my fingers crossed!

31 Aug 2010 Green Rice (Arroz Verde)

I first posted this recipe on my Facebook “Polly, Julie and Julia” page in 2009.  Since then I have had a lot of feedback:  we have a winner! Green Rice has become a welcome addition to  many dinner plates.  Finally, a new rice side-dish; one that both looks good on the plate and is deliciously, delicately flavored. Odd, that you cook the rice in pureed spinach, cilantro and milk, but it works!  Don’t let the name-or the method-scare you off.  BTW,  the rice is not green-green, it’s more herby-green.  It’s pretty!

I found this recipe in “The Best 150 American Recipes“, by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens, the book that spurred this food blogging urge.  The authors of the book  used some interesting turns of phrase to describe this rice dish (and other rice dishes of Mexico) the book said, “…like unexpected treasures at a rummage sale”.  This recipe certainly is an unexpected treasure…I don’t know about the rummage sale part though.

One note of caution, my rice, although very tasty, was a bit crunchy. Next time I will add a bit more liquid (2T – 1/4 cup). Check your rice about halfway through, to see if yours needs a bit more liquid, too. Other than that, you can probably fit this into your dinner plans in the next day or two. It will make the whole meal shine a bit more brightly “(…like an unexpected treasure at a rummage sale”!).

Green Rice

1 cup tightly packed spinach leaves (about 1.5 oz)
1/2 cup cilantro leaves (about .5 oz)
1 1/4 cup chicken broth (homemade is best)
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
3 T. butter
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
1/4 cup minced onion
1 minced garlic clove

Place spinach, cilantro and broth in a blender and puree. Add milk and salt to spinach mixture and blend until combined. Set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat butter and olive oil. When butter has melted, add rice. Saute rice, stirring frequently, until rice just begins to brown, 3-4 minutes. Add onion and saute for 1 minute more, then add in garlic and stir. To rice in pan pour mixture from blender, turn heat up, and bring to boil. Cover pan, reduce heat, and cook for 25 minutes. (You might want to check, about halfway through, to see if rice needs a bit more liquid. If it does, add 2 – 4 T of additional warm broth, water, or milk.) After 25 minutes, turn off heat, stir rice, re-cover pan and let sit for another 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe states the rice is best just after it’s made but can be made up to 2 days ahead and reheated in the microwave.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today.  Hope it was worth your while!