Tag: rice

Casserole might be better on taste then eating with your ‘rice’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date October 20, 2022

Taco sour cream rice casserole is extremely kid-friendly, with no spiciness, but it also is a nice way to enjoy taco flavors over dinner in an easy, quick casserole form.

There’s a popular saying that people eat with their eyes.

Food that looks good tends to taste better, and food that looks like slop tends to, well, taste like slop.

I was worried that the saying was going to come back to bite me with this week’s recipe when I decided to add a Sazon seasoning packet into the rice, sour cream, cottage cheese mixture in the casserole I tried. I looked at the bland, white concoction and decided it needed color—and flavor.

What I didn’t plan on was what would happen when the bright orange seasoning mixed in with the colorless, creamy assortment in my pot. It turned movie-theater-popcorn orange.

Unfortunately, that was the moment Joey decided to pop his head into the kitchen to see how my experiment was turning out.

His face told me I may have been eating an entire casserole by myself if the entire thing ended up looking like some sort of traffic-cone-inspired amalgamation. Luckily, it ended up looking much better once the casserole was done.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Plain Chicken.” You can find the original at https://www.plainchicken.com/taco-sour-cream-rice-bake/. I added onion, garlic and Sazon seasoning to my version.

Taco Sour Cream Rice Casserole

Taco sour cream rice casserole is extremely kid-friendly, with no spiciness, but it also is a nice way to enjoy taco flavors over dinner in an easy, quick casserole form.

Keyword cottage cheese, diced green chiles, diced tomatoes, garlic, ground beef, ground turkey, kid-friendly, Mexican-blend cheese, onion, rice, Rotel, Sazon seasoning, sour cream, taco seasoning, tomato sauce

Ingredients

3 cups cooked rice
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1/4 of a medium onion diced
4 to 6 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup taco seasoning
2 Sazon seasoning packets
10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chiles
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups Mexican blend cheese shredded

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an eight-by-eight- or nine-by-nine-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
Cook your rice according to package directions. (It should be three cups after it’s done cooking; don’t start with three cups uncooked rice, or you’ll have way too much!)
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the ground beef and onions. Crumble the meat as it browns. When it’s done cooking, drain off as much grease as you can. Add in the garlic and saute for about one minute.
Add in the taco seasoning, one of the Sazon packets, salt and pepper, the diced tomatoes (do not drain them) and the tomato sauce.
Stir to combine, and let the mixture simmer.
When the rice is done cooking, add the sour cream, cottage cheese, the other Sazon packet and salt and pepper to the pot and stir to combine.
In the prepared baking dish, smooth out the rice mixture into an even layer. Top with the meat mixture, and then sprinkle the shredded cheese on the top.
Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cheese is browned to your liking.
Let the casserole sit for at least five minutes before serving. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

This was pretty darn good, but it definitely lacked the spice Joey and I prefer. I would say this dish, the way I made it this time, was extremely kid friendly. It would be easy, though, to add extra kick by using the hot kind of diced tomatoes with green chiles or use tomatoes with jalapenos, instead. It would be amazing to add a drained can of jalapenos to the rice mixture on the bottom, too.

I was really glad, in the end, that I added the Sazon packets. I think they added some good flavor to the overall dish—even if I almost had to blindfold my husband during dinner.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 20, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags casserole, cottage cheese, diced green chiles, diced tomatoes, freezer meal, garlic, ground beef, ground turkey, hot dish, kid-friendly, Mexican-blend cheese, onion, rice, Rotel, Sazon seasoning, sour cream, taco seasoning, tomato sauce

Side Dish

Everyone will want to ‘congri’gate around your table for this dish

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date August 11, 2022

Congri is a beans and rice dish from Cuba. Some argue that traditional congri can't be made with black beans, but this mixture was good enough that you probably won't care.

An article by Eliana Rivero goes into great detail about some of the cultural dishes of Cuba, including a dish I decided to try for this week’s column, congri.

According to Rivero, “The name comes from the Creole French words congo and ris (beans and rice) to produce what today is widely consumed by Cubans in the diaspora (and in their Louisiana variation, Cajun red beans and rice).”

Except, after reading Rivero’s article, I discovered that there’s a lot of back and forth amongst Cubans about what actually constitutes congri. Some people, like her, claim it must be made with red beans, and others claim it can be made with black.

So, I’m putting it out there now that while what I made—a delicious black beans and rice dish—may not be considered congri by all Cubans, what I can promise is that it’s absolutely worth a try.

This comes from the website “Food52.” You can find the original post and a great personal story about the dish by Taryn Pire at https://food52.com/recipes/83081-congri-cuban-black-beans-and-rice. I doubled the seasonings in my version.

Congri

Congri is a beans and rice dish from Cuba. Some argue that traditional congri can't be made with black beans, but this mixture was good enough that you probably won't care.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Cuban

Keyword adobo, bay leaves, black beans, chorizo, congri, cumin, garlic, green bell pepper, white rice, yellow onion

Ingredients

1 pound dried black beans
2 bay leaves
2 large green bell peppers diced
1 medium yellow union diced
8 to 10 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
9 to 12 ounces chorizo
4 cups white rice
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons adobo seasoning
salt to taste

Instructions

The day before you cook your beans, rinse them well. Add them to a stock pot and add water until there’s about one inch covering them. Bring the pot to a boil, then remove them from heat, place a lid on the pot, and let them sit undisturbed until the next day.
When you’re ready to cook the beans, add more water to the pot—again, to about one inch covering them. Add the bay leaves and bring the pot to a boil. Turn the heat to a simmer and place the lid on the pot. (They’ll need to cook for 45 to 70 minutes.) Check the beans every 15 minutes or so to make sure there is still plenty of water in the pot. Add more, if necessary.
While the beans cook, heat the olive oil in another large stock pot over medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions until they are cooked through. Add the chorizo, chopping it up as it cooks. When the chorizo is nearly cooked through, add the garlic and uncooked rice. Stir well.
Add in the cumin and adobo, stir well, and then remove the mixture from the heat until the beans are cooked through. (To test the beans, fish one out, let it cool, and try it. You want it to be easy to bite without being complete mush.)
When the beans are done, remove them from the heat. Drain the beans, but reserve six cups of the bean broth (if there isn’t enough, add water until you get six cups). Discard the bay leaves. Add the bean broth and beans to the pot with the rice.
Bring the pot to a boil, put the burner on low, and place a lid on the pot. Let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes.
Stir the mixture well. If the mixture is soupy, let it cook a bit longer, with the lid off, to evaporate the liquid to your desired level. Generally, congri is a drier dish, with little to no liquid. Add salt to taste and serve.

This was flavorful and super delicious. It makes a ton, too. I made a batch and a half and couldn’t even fit all of it into my large crockpot for a group meal we had.

It’s perfect as a side dish, especially with something that has some sauce with it—like enchiladas or chili con carne. You can also eat it alone, although I’d think it would be best with a little salsa added to the mix.

I may not have actually accomplished historically accurate congri, but I did manage to create a delicious dish with plenty of leftovers for us to enjoy for the rest of the week, so I’m not going to worry too much about labels.

This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 11, 2022.

Tags adobo, bay leaves, black beans, chorizo, congri, Cuban, cumin, garlic, green bell pepper, rice, traditional, white rice, yellow onion

Side Dish

‘Tajin’ up the flavor with yummy seasoned rice

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 14, 2022

Tajin rice takes on all the flavors of the popular spice mix—chili peppers, lime and salt—and is perfect as a side dish to all kinds of Mexican dishes.

When we were stuck in the house for lockdowns at the start of the pandemic, I (like everyone else) started getting a bit stir crazy and began looking for ways to reorganize different parts of our house.

One of my first projects was my horribly organized spice cabinet. The way it was all stacked in, I had to pull half the contents out to find what I needed. I started looking online and discovered a large spice rack I could hang on my kitchen wall and immediately bought it.

That thing has been a game changer. I love having everything in its place, alphabetized and ready to use immediately. It also freed up an entire cupboard in the kitchen for other items.

Recently, I kept staring at a large bottle of Tajin Clasico (pronounced tuh-heen) seasoning in my spice rack, which I purchased for a failed recipe and hadn’t touched in awhile. I decided I needed to put it to good use.

If you’re not familiar, Tajin is a mild seasoning that features chili peppers, dehydrated lime and salt. The lime is the flavor that really sticks out when you first give it a try. Some people swear by it and put it on everything.

This comes from the blog “The Fiery Vegetarian.” You can find the original post at https://www.thefieryvegetarian.com/tajin-rice-recipe/. I added more spices in my version.

Tajin Rice

Tajin rice takes on all the flavors of the popular spice mix—chili peppers, lime and salt—and is perfect as a side dish to all kinds of Mexican dishes.

Course Side Dish

Keyword chicken stock, garlic powder, onion powder, rice, Tajin Clasico, vegetable stock

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white long-grain rice
1 3/4 cup vegetable or chicken stock
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Tajin Clasico seasoning

Instructions

Rinse your rise with cold water several times until the water runs mostly clear.
Add the rinsed rice, vegetable stock, garlic powder and onion powder to a medium-sized pot with a tight-fitting lid. Heat over high heat, stirring to dissolve the seasoning, until the mixture is at a boil.
Place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to a simmer. Leave it on the heat, covered, for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the lid and stir in the butter until it’s melted and fully incorporated. Stir in the Tajin and then let the rice sit, off the heat, for about five minutes to let the flavors meld. Add any additional seasonings if desired, and serve as a side to your favorite Mexican entree.

This was a nice side dish. We had it alongside some chicken tacos one night and ate the leftovers with quesadillas on another evening.

I will say that if you’re not a fan of Tajin or citrus flavors in your savory dishes, you definitely won’t like this rice, but we thought it was pretty good—especially as a side dish. I don’t know if it could hold its own as the main star of a dinner, but it probably depends on how much you like Tajin.

So, that spice bottle is still staring down at me from my spice rack, but at least it’s a couple tablespoons lighter. I’ll have to come up with some other ways to use it up—especially since it’s nice and tall and has to be stored out of alphabetical sequence in the rack. Now that I finally have things organized, I want to keep it that way.

This piece first appeared in print on July 14, 2022.

Tags chicken stock, easy side dish, garlic powder, onion powder, rice, Tajin Clasico, vegetable stock, white rice

Main Dish

Meat is ‘naan’ essential for this potato and chickpea curry

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 19, 2022

Potato and chickpea curry is spicy and full of lots of flavors from a variety of spices. It is also vegan, giving those avoiding animal products a great, quick meal to enjoy.

Quite a number of years ago, when we put our house on the market, our realtor gave us some tips for keeping our home ready for showings.

In addition to keeping things clean and organized, he encouraged us to pin back the curtains for plenty of natural light and begged us to take a break from cooking anything that would have strong, lingering smells. Specifically, he said we should stay away from curry.

I thought about that this week when I decided to try a vegan curry recipe I found online. Personally, I think the smell of spicy curry would be a selling point for a house, but I’m sure it’s not for everyone.

This recipe was fantastic, and if you’re trying to cut some meat out of your diet, I highly recommend it. It was filling, extremely flavorful and very pretty, to boot. It was also on the spicy side, so if that’s not your favorite, I’d skip this one. I think it would be a bit difficult to make this one completely mild.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Well Plated” by Erin Clarke. I added extra garlic in my version.

Potato and Chickpea Curry

Potato and chickpea curry is spicy and full of lots of flavors from a variety of spices. It is also vegan, giving those avoiding animal products a great, quick meal to enjoy.

Course Main Course

Keyword cayenne, chickpeas, coconut milk, cumin, curry, diced tomatoes, garam masala, garlic, ginger, peas, potatoes, rice, turmeric, vegan, vegetarian, yellow onion

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion diced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger or ginger paste minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste
2 pounds potatoes diced (I used Russets)
14 ounces canned chickpeas rinsed and drained
14 ounces diced tomatoes in juice
14 ounce can light coconut milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup frozen peas
Prepared white rice for serving
Naan bread for serving

Instructions

In a Dutch oven or stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
Add the onion to the hot oil and saute until the onions are soft. Add the garlic and ginger, and saute for about 30 seconds. Add in the curry powder, garam masala, cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper and salt, and continue to stir for about a minute.
Once the mixture smells really nice, stir in the potatoes and chickpeas to coat them with the spices.
Add in the diced tomatoes and coconut milk, and stir well to combine.
Bring the mixture to a very low boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring regularly to keep the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot, for about 15 minutes.
Once the potatoes are fork tender, stir in the sugar, lemon juice and peas. Let the mixture heat over low until the peas are hot.
Serve the curry over top of white rice and with a side of naan bread.

I absolutely loved this one. Joey was out of town for the evening, so he had to settle for leftovers later in the week, but he also gave it a thumbs up.

It does make quite a bit of food, and it stretches even further with rice, so if you want to feed a crowd on the cheap, save this one for the future.

Plus, our whole house smelled like warm, delicious spices for a couple days, so I suppose it’s a good thing we aren’t trying to sell it right now.

Of course, with the way the housing market is moving right now, I doubt it would even matter.

This piece first appeared in print on May 19, 2022.

Tags cayenne pepper, chickpeas, coconut milk, cumin, curry, diced tomatoes, garam masala, garbanzo beans, garlic, ginger, naan bread, peas, potatoes, rice, turmeric, vegan, vegetarian, yellow onion

Main Dish Side Dish

For dinner tonight, choose to go with the grain

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 14, 2020

Hibachi-style fried rice is easy to create and simple to alter, depending on what's sitting in your refrigerator.

Over the years, I have to confess that I have tended to order off of the side dishes part of the menu for a lot of my meals.

Particularly at Chinese restaurants, I’ve been known to just buy an order of fried rice for lunch and skip over the entrees completely. It’s one of my favorite things.

According to an article by Rhonda Parkinson, the recipe for fried rice literally goes back centuries in China and likely came about sometime during the Sui Dynasty, which lasted from 589 to 618 A.D.

The “proper” way to make it is the subject of a lot of debate online if you want to jump into the fray. People differ on the seasonings, the vegetables, what meats are or are not added, and even at what point in the process an egg should be added.

So when I made fried rice to go along with dinner recently, I just chose a recipe that sounded good to try and went with it, fully recognizing that I probably wasn’t accomplishing something “authentic.” But in the grand scheme of things, it was delicious, so I wasn’t too worried if someone in the Sui Dynasty would have recognized my concoction as close to their own.

The recipe I tried comes from the blog “Kitchen Swagger” by Shawn Williams. You can find the original post at https://kitchenswagger.com/hibachi-style-fried-rice-recipe/. I added extra garlic powder to my version, and I realized after starting that I was out of peas, so those ended up being left out by necessity (they’ll definitely get added next time). I also updated the directions a bit.

Hibachi-Style Fried Rice

Hibachi-style fried rice is easy to create and simple to alter, depending on what's sitting in your refrigerator.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword fried rice, Hibachi, rice, takeout

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup carrots diced
1/4 cup peas
1/2 cup onion diced (I used yellow)
2 cups white rice prepared
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg beaten

Instructions

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the carrots, peas and onion. Saute them for several minutes or until the vegetables are to your desired tenderness.
Add the rice to the skillet and stir to combine. Then add the soy sauce, butter, garlic powder and salt and pepper to the skillet and keep stirring so everything is well combined and the butter fully melts.
For the last step, slide the rice out of the way and dump in your beaten egg, stirring constantly for a couple minutes until it’s cooked through, and stir it into the rest of the rice mixture.
Serve.

We really enjoyed this, and I even made it fancy by packing the rice into a small ramekin and then upturning it onto the plates to make uniform mounds of yummy fried rice on our plates.

I also did technically pick a side on the egg debate. I once listened to a chef who said the egg should be added last, because that keeps it from getting too dry and overcooked, and I thought that made enough sense to make it my practice.

The best part about the history of fried rice, in my opinion, is that it’s really just an excuse to use up whatever you still have laying around your kitchen, so adding other veggies or even some protein is completely within the realm of possibility. In fact, a lot of people argue that day-old rice is the only way to make fried rice taste perfect.

Also, if you want to speed up this process, grab a bag of frozen peas and carrots and use that instead of having to cut up your own veggies.

And if you don’t want to make an entree to go with your fried rice, go ahead and eat it as your main dish for dinner. After doing enough research, I can tell you that the only rule with fried rice is that there really aren’t any rules.

This piece first appeared in print on May 14, 2020.

Tags carrots, Chinese, fried rice, Hibachi, peas, rice, takeout

Side Dish

A quick Cajun dish will do ‘rice’ly

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date January 16, 2020

Cajun rice comes together easily and is a flavorful side dish.

During a recent lazy weekend, we were getting a meal ready to eat in front of the television to watch a basketball game. As is often the case, Joey and I decided to share duties in the kitchen to get our meal prepared. Joey was going to cook a rack of ribs, and I told him I’d take care of the side.

He was making some Cajun ribs, so I decided a nice side of Cajun rice would be perfect, already tasting the sweet red peppers and warm seasoning in my mouth.

Except he wasn’t making Cajun ribs. He was making chipotle ribs.

I have no doubt that he told me the right flavor profile. In fact, I’m sure he told me exactly what he had planned, and I think my brain just filled in what it really wanted to hear.

So, this week I’m sharing a recipe for some Cajun rice with you, despite us not eating anything else even remotely Louisiana-related with it.

This comes from the blog “The Mountain Kitchen” by David and Debbie Spivey. You can find their original post at https://www.themountainkitchen.com/easy-cajun-rice/. I changed up the amounts of some items in my version.

Cajun Rice

Cajun rice comes together easily and is a flavorful side dish.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Cajun

Keyword bell pepper, rice

Ingredients

1 cup white rice cooked to package directions
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red bell pepper diced
6 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Cajun or Creole seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the peppers and saute until they reach your desired tenderness.
Add the garlic and saute until it just starts to brown. Stir in the tomato paste and let cook for about one more minute.
Add in the rice, lemon juice and seasonings, stirring to combine everything and making sure the rice is heated through. Serve.

On the plus side, I can tell you from experience that this rice does, indeed, pair well with chipotle-seasoned meats, so if you want an adventure, go for it.

Also, if you want to make this a meal by itself, season some peeled shrimp with some of your Cajun seasoning and saute it in a little butter or olive oil over medium heat. Add it to the rice, and it’s a great meal.

I’m glad I have an understanding husband who just rolled his eyes at me and dished up a large scoop of rice alongside his ribs.

I suppose if you’re going to be a bad listener, the least you can do is apologize with something delicious.

This piece first appeared in print on Jan. 16, 2020.

Tags bell pepper, Cajun, rice

Main Dish Microwave Side Dish

It’s tough to see one more empty seat at the table

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 18, 2019

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.

A couple weeks ago, our family gathered around my maternal grandmother’s table, enjoying a meal with her along with all of the cousins and their children and spouses present.

It was sometimes a bit loud and boisterous, and there was plenty of laughter as we all ate way too much while telling stories and catching up. It was a rare moment when everyone was able to come.

This past weekend, we were all there again, minus one very noticeable presence: Grandma.

After losing my grandpa in March, she went to join him last week. She was ready; we were not.

Grandma’s table expanded several times over the years as grandchildren, significant others and great grandchildren continued to join our family, and although it seemed like there were always more places set every time we gathered, the amount of leftovers seemed to stay constant. She taught us all to cook for an army, and as she often said, if you left hungry, that was your own fault.

When we were younger, Grandma made us all elaborately decorated birthday cakes every year. I almost always requested a spice cake, and when she asked what dishes we’d like to see for our family dinner together to celebrate, I requested her scalloped broccoli.

The broccoli casserole was a favorite amongst all the grandkids, which I suspect had less to do with the broccoli and more to do with the fact that it had plenty of cheese in it.

I decided that making that dish was the perfect way for me to honor her memory and all of those elaborate meals over the years, so I opened the handwritten cookbook she gave me for my 16th birthday, following the directions written in her beautiful cursive.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever shed nostalgic tears over broccoli before, but I definitely did.

So this week, my recipe comes from the kitchen of Lola Franklin—one of the best cooks I’ve ever known.

Scalloped Broccoli

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword broccoli, casserole, cheese, cream of mushroom, rice

Ingredients

32 ounces frozen broccoli
1 pound American cheese cut into chunks
2 cups minute rice
1 cup milk
2, 10.5- ounce cans cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large pot, add the frozen broccoli along with three cups of water. Put it over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is cooked through.
While the broccoli is cooking, add the cheese (Grandma used to either get the loaves of sliced American cheese to use or would request it from the deli counter), rice, milk and soup to a large, microwave-safe casserole dish with a lid.
Drain the broccoli and stir it into the other ingredients.
Microwave on high, with the lid on, until the cheese is melted and the rice is cooked through (somewhere between five and 10 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave).
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This is a great dish for leftovers, which I can attest to after being sent home with many Tupperware containers of it over the years.

After mixing up my batch of broccoli, I have to admit it didn’t taste as great at Grandma’s. I doubt I’ll ever be fully satisfied with my version of it, though, since I won’t be enjoying it with one of the most influential women in my life.

Over the years, she taught me much more than just cooking skills around her dinner table. As she loaded up our plates, she also demonstrated how to be resilient, to be caring, to love unconditionally, and to always put others first.

As we spent our last family meal together, Grandma watched my mom, her daughter, bustling around the table, her own plate still empty as she made sure that everyone else was getting their fill and each dish was making its way around.

She looked across at me and said, “I’d be shocked if she ever actually sat down and ate.”

“I wonder where she got that from,” I responded.

“Hey, now,” she said, a gleam in her eye and a wry smile on her face.

I’ll miss sharing those meals with her as we all try to move forward, but she’ll most certainly always be with us at our family dinner tables and other gatherings we host with friends through the years.

If nothing else, Grandma taught me that life can always use an extra large scoop—of love and, of course, of ice cream.

This piece first appeared in print on July 18, 2019.

Tags broccoli, cheese, cream of mushroom, rice

Main Dish

‘Curry’ up and eat your veggies this summer

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date June 6, 2019

Eggplant sweet potato curry is a gorgeous dish and a flavorful way to enjoy your veggies.

Most of the time, I pick out a recipe based on what I already have in my fridge or pantry, but every once in awhile, I see something that looks so good that I end up going on a scavenger hunt in my local grocery store, seeking out some new ingredients to add to my arsenal.

This week, I was looking for something vegetarian and landed on this gorgeous curry recipe I found online.

The only ingredient that stumped me a bit was Harissa sauce, but after a bit of investigating, I found a simmering sauce that was a Harissa-based sauce, so I decided to grab it for my recipe. If you’re like me and have never heard of Harissa sauce before, it’s a pepper-based sauce that is generally spicy, although the one I found was decently mild. If you can’t find it in your local store, you could replace it with another pepper-based sauce like sriracha or tabasco.

I used a recipe from the blog “Vibrant Plate.” You can find the original post at https://www.vibrantplate.com/eggplant-sweet-potato-curry-vegan-gluten-free/. I increased the garlic and switched the directions a bit based on what was easiest for me.

Eggplant Sweet Potato Curry

Eggplant sweet potato curry is a gorgeous dish and a flavorful way to enjoy your veggies.

Course Main Course

Keyword curry, eggplant, rice, sweet potato

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 medium-sized yellow onion minced
4-6 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 rounded teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 eggplant
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
13.5 ounces unsweetened coconut milk I used the light kind
3 teaspoons Harissa sauce
salt to taste
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

Instructions

Prepare the eggplant and sweet potatoes by cubing each into about 1/2-inch cubes. There’s no need to peel the eggplant, but do peel the sweet potatoes.
Heat the oil over medium heat in a deep pan with a lid or Dutch oven and add the onion. Saute until the onions are soft and add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes until it just starts to smell really good.
Add the cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper and stir. Let it cook in the pan for about two minutes to roast the spices a bit.
Add in the eggplant, sweet potatoes, coconut milk and Harissa sauce and stir well.
Put the lid onto the pan and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir again and test the doneness of the sweet potatoes. Keep simmering with the lid on, checking periodically, until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
While the curry is simmering, cook the rice according to package instructions.
Once the sweet potatoes are done, add salt to taste and serve the curry over top of the rice.

This makes for fantastic leftovers, and the recipe author noted in the post that it freezes well, although our batch didn’t last long enough to find out.

It also didn’t end up being overly spicy. I think I might add a bit more Harissa next time I make it to hopefully increase the spice level a bit, and for those who are looking to incorporate more vegetables without sacrificing flavor, I highly recommend giving this a try.

Plus, it could give you a tour of some new shelves at the grocery store. Who knows what else you might find?

This piece first appeared in print on June 6, 2019.

Tags curry, eggplant, rice, sweet potatoes

Main Dish Soup

Warm soup goes beyond the ‘kale’ of duty

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 28, 2019

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.

I started following a few folks on Instagram who post beautiful food pictures regularly.

One is Karin Pfeiff Boschek, who does some of the most spectacular pie crusts I have ever seen. Another is food stylist Judy Kim, who not only posts many of her gorgeous food photos but often chronicles the behind-the-scenes set up for her photography sessions.

I continue to try to improve my food photography, despite terrible lighting in my kitchen and my propensity to bake late into the evening, but sometimes, even though the photo of the recipe I try looks extremely appetizing online, mine just doesn’t turn out the same.

This week’s recipe was one of those. Truth be told, it was definitely my fault. The recipe calls for wild rice rather than the normal, long-grain variety, but as we all know, sometimes the local grocery store just doesn’t carry whatever specialized ingredient you’re looking for, so you have to improvise.

What I did not consider was that my cooking time would need to be adjusted and that the colorful soup photo I saw online would not be quite as pretty with only white rice.

With that in mind, I still really liked my end result—even if it wasn’t a picture-perfect soup—and I adjusted the cooking time below to reflect what I wish I would have done.

This recipe comes from the blog “Gimme Some Oven.” You can find it at https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cozy-autumn-wild-rice-soup/, where the recipe author also posted instructions to make this soup in a pressure cooker. I added extra seasoning and garlic to my version. I also opted for using regular rice instead of wild rice.

Autumn Rice Soup

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword kale, rice

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter divided
1 small white onion diced
2 medium-sized carrots diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 pound sweet potato peeled and diced
8 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
8 cloves garlic minced
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup uncooked rice
1 bay leaf
2 heaping tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk I used skim
about 3 cups loosely packed kale chopped into bite-sized pieces and the stems removed
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven with a lid, heat one tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat.
Saute the onion until it is translucent. Add in the carrots, celery, sweet potato, mushrooms and garlic, and stir regularly, letting them cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the stock, rice, bay leaf and Old Bay and stir to combine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot a bit to loosen any stuck-on bits.
Keep the pot on medium-high heat until it just starts to slowly bubble. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and give it a good stir and check the rice’s doneness. If it’s not quite how you want it, continue to let the pot simmer, covered, checking on it every five minutes or so until the rice is where you want it.
While the rice is cooking, melt the remaining three tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and let it cook for about one minute. Whisk in the milk and stir frequently, making sure to break up any clumps and letting the mixture thicken significantly.
When the rice is done and the cream sauce is thickened, add the sauce and kale to the Dutch oven and stir to combine.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve when it is heated through.

If you decide to use wild rice for your version, the original recipe calls for a 45-minute simmer time. I tried that with my long-grain rice, and while the flavors were still nice, the rice was pretty mushy, and I didn’t end up with the amount of liquid in my soup that I should have had at the end.

This wasn’t one of Joey’s favorites. The kale stays quite crisp, despite being added to the hot soup, and he was not a big fan of the texture. If you’re not a kale enthusiast, you could easily add fresh spinach instead.

And be prepared that your soup might not photograph as nicely as you want. I don’t think my concoction would have a chance of appearing on Karin or Judy’s Instagram feeds, but it was nice to have a warm bowl of soup on a cold day—pretty or not.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 28, 2019.

Tags kale, mushrooms, rice, sweet potatoes

Main Dish

Can’t stop thinking ‘gumbout’ New Orleans dish

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date April 5, 2018

New Orleans shrimp and sausage gumbo is a spicy, filling meal.

Sometimes I let my fridge do the talking when I’m trying to figure out what to make for dinner, so when I had several leftover stalks of celery, most of an onion and lots of diced bell peppers at my disposal, I took to the Internet for a solution.

Much to Joey’s delight, I decided on trying a recipe for gumbo.

I headed to the grocery store to finish out my ingredient list and realized that one item on the list, gumbo file, which is made from sassafras leaves, is not sold in most Kansas grocery stores (if someone knows a hidden spot it exists, let me know).

After doing a little research, I decided to get a little weird and substitute for the gumbo file with a bit of root beer, since it has much the same flavor. I tried my gumbo before and after adding it, and I had to admit that it had a nice influence on the taste, so just go with me on this one.

I found this recipe on the blog “Little Spice Jar.” You can find it at http://littlespicejar.com/new-orleans-gumbo-shrimp-sausage/. I added more garlic and changed up the type of Tabasco (which I highly recommend), and of course, subbed in root beer in my version.

New Orleans Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo

New Orleans shrimp and sausage gumbo is a spicy, filling meal.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Cajun

Keyword Andouille sausage, bell pepper, celery, gumbo, New Orleans, onions, shrimp

Ingredients

1/2 cup high-heat oil I used canola
1/2 cup flour
1 onion diced (I used yellow)
2 bell peppers diced (any color)
4 stalks celery diced
8-10 cloves minced garlic
8 ounces Andouille sausage sliced
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning I used Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce I used chipotle Tabasco
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
14.5 ounces stewed tomatoes and juices diced
2 pounds raw shrimp peeled and de-veined
4 tablespoons root beer
White rice for serving

Instructions

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven. Whisk in the flour until it is smooth and then stir continuously for about 20 minutes or until the roux turns to a medium brown (the author calls it “peanut butter color”).
Stir in the onions, bell peppers and celery and keep stirring until they soften (about 10 minutes).
Add the garlic and sausage and keep stirring until you can really smell the garlic.
Now add the bay leaves, Cajun seasoning, Tabasco sauce, cayenne, chicken broth and tomatoes, making sure to scrape the pan to get all the good bits off the bottom.
Bring the mixture to a very low boil and lower the heat to medium-low and leave the lid on for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the shrimp and cook for about 10 more minutes or until the shrimp is done (they will curl up a bit and become opaque). Add the root beer and salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the bay leaves and serve the gumbo over white rice.

We reheated this on the stove over the next week so as not to overcook the shrimp, and it was good every single time. It makes a ton of food, especially when you’re serving it over rice, so we had quite a few meals of gumbo before it was all gone.

It’s definitely on the spicy side, so you could leave out the cayenne and replace it with paprika to tame it a bit if you like, but it was super good with the amount of kick it had.

It also helped me clean out my fridge and gave me a new use for root beer that I wasn’t expecting.

Sometimes you have to be inventive and flexible in your Midwestern kitchen.

This piece first appeared in print on April 5, 2018.

Tags Andouille sausage, bell pepper, Cajun, celery, New Orleans, onion, rice, shrimp