Thursday, June 16, 2011

Summer Rice: Light, Creamy and Delish.

I often have days in the office where I am sitting and staring at my computer crunching over sales numbers and e-mails.  What makes this less painful is that I work from home...and I always have the Food Network on in the background.  Often, a chef's recipe stands out to me and I can't wait to finish my work, go to the store, come home, pour a glass of wine, and finally, start the cooking.  Tonight, I wanted to write about this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis- she called it Nonna Luna's Rice after her late grandmother.  I am going to call it Summer Rice, as it tastes like a summer rice dish my mom would always make while we were growing up.  I changed it a bit by using half olive oil and butter for both the rice and meat preperation and I also used brown rice instead of white. 

SUMMER RICE with Shrimp or chicken: I made this two ways since my friend does not like shrimp, it was so easy and not messy.

The Rice:
1. Over medium low heat add 1TBS of butter, 1TBS olive oil and 1 whole clove of garlic and melt so the garlic infuses into the butter and oil.
2. Remove garlic, set aside
3. Add rice and stir around until it begins to toast
4. Add proper amount of low sodium chicken broth, bring to boil, cook to al dente (AKA, follow instructions on bag)

The Shrimp/Chicken:
1. Over medium low heat add 1TBS of butter, 1TBS olive oil and 1 whole clove of garlic and melt so the garlic infuses into the butter and oil.
2. Increase to medium heat , add shrimp/chicken (keep in mind that chicken will take longer to cook, shrimp cooks rather quickly)
3. Add salt immediately, stir.  Add 12 shakes of Tobasco Sauce (use Tobasco as the vinegar is needed)
4. Add the juice of one or one and a half lemon
5. Reduce heat so there is no more simmer, add cream and stir until heated through



Serve over rice, add lemon zest and more Tobasco if needed.  You know what else this would be good with?  Scallops.  And I also think it would be good to add a quarter cup of dry white wine after step 2 and before step 4.  Try it!  And Enjoy!

We switched over to the 2010 vintage of our KENWOOD Sauvignon Blanc so I get to drink the remining bottles of 2009 that I have.  And it just so happens that it pairs EXTREMELY well with this dish!
   This is what it looked like when I was finished with seconds...(I'm still drinking the wine though, so there is no empty glass to take a picture)

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