Mexican Rice (Part II)

Since I posted the recipe for this Easy Mexican Rice last week, I received a couple of emails asking about the recipe for the more “classic” version of Mexican rice.
So who am I to deny such a request?

Easy Mexican Rice

When I want to cook restaurant-style Mexican rice at home I usually follow the run of the mill recipe that includes rice, onion, cumin, tomato sauce, broth (either chicken or caldo de tomate), and salt. A simple recipe that yields solid results.
So when I spotted this recipe in the NYTimes I was intrigued.
It’s not that different from the other one, the ingredients and cooking instructions are pretty much the same. However, this one includes a green bell pepper.
In addition, the veggies, aromatics, and broth are pureed in the blender to make a sort of gazpacho. After the rice is toasted, you add the “gazpacho” to the rice, and that’s about it. After 15 minutes the rice has absorbed all the flavors and becomes pretty darn amazing.

Citrus-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Arguably a side of sweet potatoes is one of the best ways to add a pop of color and flavor into a meal, regardless of the season.
So when I spotted this recipe on NYT Cooking I knew right away to give it a try. It turned out to be way better than I expected, so I decided to serve it both at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It won rave reviews from everybody.
So why not share it with you guys?

(Vegan) Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

Life is definitely too short to eat second-class mashed potatoes.
I like mine with a shameless amount of butter and milk (or cream) and it’s been hard to make them any other way. That was until I tried these uh-mazing Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes.

Creamy Garlic Broccoli Rice

“Finish your broccoli!” "Eat your broccoli or you can't have dessert!" "If you feed your broccoli to the dog one more time, you're grounded!"
I'm sure we've all been threatened in a similar way with broccoli by our moms.
They wanted us to grow up healthy, so they made us consume spoonfuls of the cruciferous vegetable despite our disapproval.
Chances are that, growing up, we didn’t like it that much, even if it was referred to as “tiny trees” or other cutesy names. Maybe that happened because it was mostly served kind of mushy or slathered in cheese. Maybe it was just one of those vegetables that you had to eat — like some sort of punishment.

Mushroom Ragout

Staying home for the holidays amid pandemic restrictions made me realize that for the first time in years (read this as ever) I will be home to water a fresh-cut tree and not let it die.
Since almost all the holiday festivities have been canceled (or restricted) having the smell of a real tree in the house might be a way to keep some of the holiday spirit going and help me get through with what I’ve heard has been called the “Covid blues.”
After all the holidays haven’t been cancelled this year, we have to celebrate in a meaningful, albeit different, way.

Best-Ever Barley Salad

There’s a certain kind of dish that lets you down not because it’s bad, but because it could have been great. One of those dishes, for me, is barley salad.
Over the last 10 years I’ve probably tasted close to 50 different barley salads; at potlucks, “bring-a-dish” picnics, barbecues, salad bars, and even at one very fancy restaurant (which I’m not gonna name.) I can’t name one that was memorable let alone exceptional.
I sadly almost came to the conclusion that barley salad could never reach the heights of a farro salad or of a rice salad. Good yes, great never.

(Simple) Turmeric Yellow Rice

Like most humans, I’m a creature of habit. Admittedly, I’m most comfortable when I have an established routine.
For example, at the gym, 9.5 times out of 10, I pick the same locker. If it is occupied already, it annoys me. Why is that? I don’t know. It just does.
Same thing happens with the treadmill. Yes, my gym has more than one treadmill but I use the same treadmill every time. Not to mention the stationary bike, that particular spot in the stretching area, etc.
In my mind, once I’ve found a good thing or found something that works, there’s no reason to change it. Some people might find it boring, I find it comforting.

Easy Rice and Mushroom Casserole

Our weather has been incredibly and ridiculously cold recently (although it seems like months) — a seemingly endless string of days of bone-chilling temperatures.
This type of weather makes me crave comfort-type food — something warm and filling.
In my opinion casseroles are the quintessential all-American belly-warming one-pan comfort food.
Hearty, nourishing, and simple to make, they can make nights a little easier by keeping dinner contained to just one pan.
No dishes to wash and heat of stove and oven to warm home naturally. Kinda like kill-2-birds-with-one-stone.

Broccoli and Potato Patties

Broccoli is a tough one because it’s one of those greens that not too many people like the taste of. I know a lot of people that eat it largely because they know it’s one of the healthiest food on the planet, but enjoying it as a food? Not really.
Personally I love broccoli. Pasta with broccoli is one of my fave ways to have pasta, and what about my Crock-Pot Broccoli and Beef? So delicious. Not to mention this casserole with broccoli and mushroom or this creamy soup that I make every so often.
Today I’m gonna show you that you can also make delicious veggie patties with broccoli.

Mom's Gratineed Spinach

If there’s one thing I truly detest in life, it' canned spinach.
It's one of those foods that I can't image liking. To me they taste bland and are pretty much a mushy mess.
I love fresh (and frozen) spinach though. Even as a kid I would choose Mom’s Gratineed Spinach over French fries any day of the week.
Mom was always happy to whip it up for me time and again.
I mean, when a kid asks for spinach there’s no way a mother would refuse such a request, am I right?

Cabbage and Potato Pie

You know, sometimes you make something and you think "Oh man, what have I done?"
But then it exceeds your expectations and goes way better than you planned.
I just love that, don't you?
This Cabbage and Potato Pie do that to me.
I had an idea in mind for a vegan/vegetarian version of my Cottage Pie for a long time but never managed to make it.
Until I found this recipe on the Financial Times a couple of weeks ago.
I know that the Financial Times is not the first newspaper/magazine that comes to mind when in need of recipes, but truth to be told they have a great recipe section.

Salt, Pepper & Paprika Potato Wedges

I’ve been making these spicy potato wedges for so long, I can’t even remember (most likely I was still in college.)
To be honest, I can’t believe that after all these years of blogging I haven’t told you about them yet, you should revolt or something. Just kidding, please don’t.
I don’t even remember if I found the recipe somewhere or someone told me about it or if I just experimented on my own.
It’s as simple as it gets: Potatoes cut into wedges, oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder, pop in the oven, and voilà: awesomely crispy, packed-with-flavor, potato wedges.

Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

I took a month off and went on a trip to France for the summer. I so needed it.
While I was traveling on the French Riviera I stopped in Nice for a couple of days.
What a gorgeous city, you could easily have stayed there a week — or 37 years, like the artist Matisse did.
Anyways, on a breezy summer evening in a small brasserie on the Promenade des Anglais, I tried some amazing tomates farcies à la viande hachée (i.e., tomatoes stuffed with ground beef.)
An amazingly simple dish but so fantastically delicious that the next day and the day after that I came back to the same brasserie to eat it again.

Italian Farro Salad

If you’re not familiar with it, farro is a grain similar to pearl barley, but it’s dried in such a way that instead of being fluffy and spongy, it becomes a bit chewy and has an incredible nutty flavor.
Farro is a pure form of wheat with the husk intact.
It’s been a staple in the Mediterranean diet for centuries, in fact it was a major food for the ancient Romans, who used it to make bread and soups before shifting to wheat.
It’s incredibly versatile and pretty healthy too. It contains a lot of fiber which proves to be very good when it comes to digestion and cardiovascular health. It’s also exceptionally high in protein for a grain and supplies more than 10 different vitamins and minerals.
It used to be pretty hard to find, but nowadays almost all grocery stores carry it. From Trader Joe’s to Whole Foods to Walmart, look for it in the natural-food or special selection sections.

Greek Pasta Salad

Pasta salads tend to get a bad rap, but I find that the more I think of them as cold and fresh summer dishes and the less as mayo-laden bowls of suspicious ingredients offered in delis around the country, the more inviting they become, not only for picnics and potlucks but for an awesome Friday night.
I actually made this Greek Pasta Salad for a BBQ this past weekend, everyone raved about it, and wanted to know how to make it.
In my book, I always know that something works when people ask for the recipe. Then again, I’m not sure if they are ever going to make it but sure enough, they’ve enjoyed it.
I love when people get so excited about something that is so simple to make and so fresh.

Marinated Red Peppers with Garlic and Oregano

Most of the time, I don’t choose the recipes I share here, it’s the market that controls it.
As it happens when you live in a climate that deprives you of field-fresh produce for almost half the year, leaving you to go completely out of control and of course overdo it in the months that you’re graced with it — bringing home buckets of fresh produce when you only need a fraction of it.
The other day I picked-up some mega-huge red peppers thinking about pickling them, but then I changed my mind — as I often do— and I instead roasted them.

Maple Chipotle Roasted Carrots

This recipe is proof that vegetable side dishes don’t have to be boring. Or, to put it in other words, that there are tasty ways to prepare what could be a boring vegetable for a side dish.
Because let’s face it, sometimes carrots can be pretty mundane just plain on the side of your main dish.
Am I right?
Introducing Maple Chipotle Roasted Carrots.

One-Pot Cheesy Beet Rice

After I posted the recipe for the One-Pot Creamy Garlic Zucchini Rice three weeks ago, Mark @JerseyStylePhotography asked me if I have ever tried making it with beets instead of zukes.

Since I’m not very fond of beets — despite a recipe for chocolate beet cake and one for beet juice on this blog — my answer was of course “No”.
I mean, why on earth would someone ruin a perfectly good recipe with beets?
What a crazy idea...

One-Pot Creamy Garlic Zucchini Rice

People, the season of zucchini overabundance is officially here.
The other day I came home from the farmers market with so much zucchini the overflow from the refrigerator filled a big bowl on my counter.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t scared at all. For many the summer mantra is “too much zucchini”, but my attitude is: Bring ‘em on.
I love zucchini so very much. It’s one of the most wondrous ingredients available and a gift to the seasonal cook.
Zoodles, casseroles, patties, fritters, frittata, even a grilled cheese. You can do anything with zucchini!