Archive for November, 2006
This has become one of our favorite side dishes. I adapted it a bit from an Alton Brown recipe that I found a while back. I really like the way it comes out and you can’t screw it up. Don’t believe me, try it. Let me know if you can’t do it and I’ll gladly retract my statement.
2 tbls butter
½ medium onion, minced
2 pinches kosher salt
2 cups long grain rice
3 cups chicken broth
2 strips orange zest
Small pinch saffron (optional)
1 bay leaf
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy, wide, lidded pan, melt butter over mediums-low heat. Add onion and kosher salt. Sweat the onions until aromatic, stirring constantly. Add the rice and stir to coat. Continue stirring until rice smells nutty. Add chicken broth, orange zest, saffron and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Stir once, then cover pan with moistened dish towel. Place lid on pan and fold towel corners over lid. Bake for 20 minutes. Then rest at room temperature for 10-20 minutes without removing the cover. Remove lid from rice and remove orange zest and bay leaf. Either turn out onto platter or leave in pan. Fluff with fork.
Servings: 6
Time: Prep: 10 mins Cooking: 30-40 mins
Recipe Card Version
November 25th, 2006
Well, it’s almost time for me to start cooking for my first catering gig. The school auction is a week and a half from now (Dec 2) and I think I’m about ready. I did a dry run on Saturday and tested my cooking skills out on the family (they don’t care if it tastes bad, dinner was free for them). My goal was to make sure I had cooking times down and I could gauge portions so that I could make out my final shopping list. Everything worked out wonderfully. I had a couple of minor things to work on, it turns out that people in North Idaho can’t have mashed potatoes without gravy. I’m not a big fan of gravy, but that was the number one comment from the group. So, gravy gets added to the list.
Here’s the final menu:
Roasted Herbed Pork Loin With Orange-Cranberry Relish
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes (arg, w/ gravy)
Tossed Mixed Greens Salad w/ 3 homemade dressings
Cheddar Broccoli Soup
Chicken-Wild Rice Soup
Dinner Rolls
Assorted Cheesecakes
Here’s a sample of my shopping list.
60 lbs of pork loin
50 lbs of potatoes
6 lbs of butter
½ gallon of ½ and ½
8 heads of garlic
32 cans of chicken broth
144 rolls
28 8oz packages of cream cheese
10 lbs of sugar
3 dozen eggs
1 68oz jar of mayonnaise
1 32oz jar of honey
… and much, much more.
Our big spa tub is already half full of things we could get ahead of time and didn’t need the refrigerator. I’m surprised on how little it’s going to cost me to cook for this many people. All in it’s going to run me around $600. Of course that’s covered by the PTA, but I feel really good thinking that I’m giving them a good deal
Cross your fingers that all goes well and that I don’t kill anyone with food poisoning.
November 21st, 2006
Sitting here in Mike’s driveway waiting for him to get out of bed. I’m stealing his internet.
November 21st, 2006
I was looking for some new music on iTunes today and noticed that NBC Nightly News is now available as a free podcast. Very cool. I try to keep up with the news on a daily basis, but always have missed getting home in time to watch the national news. I can listen to this in the background while I work. I already feel more informed.
November 16th, 2006
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