Rice pilaf

[redbird]

This is the pilaf recipe I was referring to last night, when I posted about duck and orange pilaf:

I hadn't posted this here, but to a list called "the spoon" some years ago: I found it on google, by searching on "Al Bennick", the friend of my parents I got the basis of this from when I was 11 or so:

Mandatory ingredients:

1 stick (1/4 pound) 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 onion
1 handful thin egg noodles
1 cup white rice
2 cups broth (I use a can of chicken broth, thinned with a little water) These days we usually make and freeze our own chicken broth, but a commercial can of broth, eked out with enough water to make 2 cups, works.
1 bay leaf
black pepper

Optional ingredients:

1 handful (1-2 ounces) raisins or dried cranberries
1 stick cinnamon, or a pinch of powdered cinnamon
3-4 whole cloves
3-4 whole green cardamom seeds
any leftover meat

Instructions:

Melt the butter over a low light, in a Dutch oven or other middle-sized covered pot. When the butter is melted, add the onions, and saute a few minutes (until they're soft, but not yet brown). Add the noodles, and saute briefly. Now, add the rice, and saute until it becomes translucent. You should be stirring fairly steadily through all this.

When the rice has become translucent, add the broth and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, and add the black pepper. Also add any of the optional flavorings except the meat. Simmer on very low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed. If you're using leftover meat, add it about five minutes before you're done cooking (that is, 15 minutes after the liquid comes to a boil).

Serves 2 people as a main dish, or 4 to 6 as a side dish.

Notes: Almost any leftover meat should work. Use 1/2 to 3/4 cup if you have that much, but even scraps can add a nice flavor. Roast duck is particularly nice, if you happen to have it. I sometimes stop off in Chinatown and buy a quarter of a roast duck just to use in this recipe.

You can use any or all of the optional ingredients (except that using both raisins and cranberries would probably be excessive). I haven't listed salt because commercial broth has as much as this needs; if you're using a homemade stock, you might want to use a little salt, or let people add salt at the table. Other spices would probably work, depending on what you're used to and what you're serving this with. Using all of fruit, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon gives the pilaf a vaguely Middle Eastern or Indian feeling.

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Mmm, that sounsd terrific. I'm in the habit of making risotto when the starch-in-a-bowl mood strikes, but i8t's more labor intensive, and this sounds simpler, and very tasty. Straight into the memories...

Curious about the noodles - do they function as a thickener?

[redbird]

I don't think the noodles are a thickener--they're just a tasty thing that goes in. I don't recall trying it without noodles: I keep them around for this and to toss into chicken soup.

The "mandatory" ingredients were what went in this when Al gave me the recipe, after I ate it at a potluck; I started fiddling with it sometime after I'd finished college and had my own kitchen.

[bugsybanana.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds good. I might actually have to buy white rice to cook it (I've been using brown rice recently for the fiber content). The whole stick of butter makes me a little nervous; I made sure the half-pound of butter I bought last week had a sell-by date in February 'cause I don't expect to use it up before then.

It reminds me of the barley casserole I made a few weeks ago -- six cups of chicken broth to one cup of barley. The barley really does absorb that much. It's pretty tasty, very filling, and makes too much for one person to eat without tiring of it. I had to throw away a lot of it with the recent electrical problems, otherwise I might still have some left.

[redbird]

The whole stick of butter makes me a little nervous

As well it should. I wonder how I got that wrong in typing this in however long ago. I use (about) 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, which is 3/8 of a stick.

I suspect this could be adapted to brown rice, but you might need to adjust the quantity of broth: I use long-grain white rice, which gets the 2:1 ratio when cooked by itself.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Barley and brown rice go perfectly well in pilafs, but need much longer cooking than white rice. My homemade beef broth needs to be diluted at least 1:1 to cook grain, the straight broth goes unpleasantly gooey.

>I made sure the half-pound of butter I bought last week had a sell-by date in February 'cause I don't expect to use it up before then

Butter can be stored in the freezer for a long time if it is wrapped well to protect from off-odors and freezer burn.

I like unsweetened dried cranberries in pilaf. Or tart cherries with duck or turkey. Sometimes slivered almonds. Not sweet fruit. The cardamom is a nice touch.