Shiso, funny

Shiso, prepared for ochazuke. Photographs ©2014, Lori Korleski Richardson

Looking for ways to use the bunch of shiso I picked up at the farmers market last week, I ran across an ifood.tv video series called "Cooking with Dog" (no, dog is not one of the ingredients).

As the cook shows how to prepare a recipe for ochazuke featuring salmon and shiso, her trusty and well-coiffed gray miniature poodle sits on the counter, or perhaps a stool, next to her, very nicely behaved.

It must be seen to be believed. Click here to view. As a bonus, you will learn how to prepare a recipe. Bon(e) appétit!

Ochazuke
Serves 1

This is a good way to use leftover rice. It's said to be especially good after a night of drinking.

Ingredients

For first bowl
1.75 ounces salted salmon fillet
1 tablespoon sake
Toasted white sesame seeds
Hojicha or other type of Japanese green tea
Scoop of steamed rice
Toasted nori seaweed, sliced or chopped
1 tablespoon salmon roe marinated with soy sauce based seasoning
1 tablespoon cilantro (Chinese parsley)
Wasabi
Salt

For second bowl 
Scoop of steamed rice
1 pickled Japanese plum, stone removed and flesh chopped finely
1 tablespoon shirasu whitebait
2 tablespoon chopped takana-zuke - pickled takana greens
2 shiso leaves, stems removed, cut in half vertically, then sliced thinly at an angle horizontally
Hojicha  or other type of Japanese green tea
Toasted white sesame seeds

Topping Suggestions
Toasted tarako - salted Alaska pollock roe
Salted kombu seaweed
Ika Shiokara - salted semi-fermented squid
Tsukemono - Japanese pickles
Arare - bite-sized Japanese rice crackers

Instructions

Put the salmon fillet in a bowl and sprinkle the sake over both sides.
Heat a pan over medium heat. Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel. Sauté until brown, removing excess fat with a dry paper towel, and flip it over. Reduce the heat and sauté the other side. When both the sides are browned remove the fillet. Cool.
Toast the sesame seeds in the pan and put it in a mortar. Grind the sesame seeds.
Make the green tea in hot boiling water.
Place the steamed rice in a bowl and sprinkle the nori.
Remove the skin and the bones from the fillet. Roughly crumble the fillet and place the salmon on top of the rice along with the roe and cilantro. Add tea. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds and add a dab of wasabi. Serve.
For the second bowl, place the steamed rice in a bowl and sprinkle the nori. Make another cup of green tea. On top of the nori, put the plum, whitebait, takana and shiso. Pour the tea over and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve.

Use other toppings as desired.

Give me love, give me peas

Things were looking good at the City Market in downtown Charlottesville today. By 9 a.m. the line for tacos was out to the street, and they don't sell breakfast tacos, unless you think chorizo is breakfast sausage. The steak and the al pastor tacos are the best I've had in Charlottesville.


I bought some great looking dinosaur kale and rainbow chard, a variety of lettuces and some rhubarb-sweet cherry jam. But what looked the best of all were the fresh peas. I put on a Daily Show episode I had missed, and before it was over, my pint of peas had yielded enough for this recipe.

Lori K's Spring Pea Risotto

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups regular or low-sodium vegetable broth

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large shallot, finely diced

1 cup arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine


1 cup fresh shelled English peas

1 tablespoon butter (salted OK)


1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring broth to a simmer.

For the risotto, heat butter and olive oil in a wide, shallow, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, 3 minutes or until tender and translucent. Add the rice and toast for 1 to 2 minutes, or until slightly translucent. Add the wine and stir until it has evaporated.

Cook the risotto at a slow simmer, adding heated broth a half-cup at a time. Stir occasionally, making sure the risotto absorbs the liquid before adding more. Use more or less broth as needed.

Continue cooking in this manner for 18 to 20 minutes. Taste the risotto - it should be creamy and thick. It's best al dente, which means it should be fully cooked, yet still retain some firmness when you chew it.

When you have about 1 cup of broth left, stir in the raw peas. 


When the risotto is finished, turn off heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of butter, the Parmesan and season to taste with  sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve immediately.

Jambalaya, bayou, mio-my-o

(whoever posted this did not include the lyrics. You can find them HERE.)

I hope everyone had a relaxing Presidents Day. I ate a little leftover jambalaya (made with smoked turkey sausage and Virginia ham, which required ditching the salt and using more cayenne pepper) for lunch and if you're new to this blog, you probably haven't gone back far enough to try my "use whatever you have handy" jambalaya. Since today's Fat Tuesday, the day where you are supposed to use up everything you're not suppose to eat or drink during Lent (fat, rich meats, alcohol), I thought I'd post it again.

Unfortunately, Episcopal tradition has Shrove Tuesday pancakes, so that's what I'll be eating tonight. If you're in Charlottesville, join us for them at St. Paul's Memorial Church on the Corner at 6 tonight. They're not Cajun, but they are very good, and a parishioner usually provides real maple syrup from Vermont for the meal.

Lori K's generic jambalaya

Serves 6

2 large California bay leaves (or 4 small ones)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon gumbo filé (ground sassafras leaves, optional)

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground thyme

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons oil

1 cup of diced smoked sausage (andouille, kielbasa or turkey) or smokey ham

1 cup raw chicken, duck, pork or seafood

1 onion (about a cup)

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup diced bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 cups uncooked rice (long grain or converted)

4 cups chicken, duck, turkey, seafood or vegetable stock

Thoroughly combine the spices (all the ingredients before the oil) in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat the oil in a cast-iron skillet over high heat and add the meats (if using seafood, add it near the end of the cooking time). Cook for 5 minutes, then add the vegetables and the spice mix. Cook until everything is browned, about 10 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pan well, and add the rice. Cook another 5 minutes, then add the broth. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir well, remove the bay leaves, and serve.

Eating from your pantry: Lentils and rice

A well-stocked pantry serves a number of purposes: It can make friends when your spouse unexpectedly brings a person or two home for dinner; it can provide whole meals when the electricity goes out; and, if the cook is laid up with a bad leg, as happened to me in the past few weeks, it is the source of variety and fast meals without having to go to the grocery store.


One of the meals that Mark Bittman proposed to keep people out of fast food joints is lentils and rice. Lentils cook quickly, about the time that rice does, but a nicely simmered sauce may take time. So if you don't cook, or can't stand long enough to prepare, here's a option straight from the pantry: Minute Rice prepared brown rice in microwave cups and Tasty Bite Madras lentils.

Take one cup (or two) and pull back the plastic seal a little. Microwave for a minute, then put in a microwave-safe bowl. Open the pouch of lentils (use half a pouch for a single serving) and pour over the rice. Microwave for another minute or until hot. Add a little hot sauce to taste. If you want more vegetables, add cooked ones before you pour the sauce over.

It won't be as good as from scratch, but nourishing and comforting and fast.

Express risotto

Arborio rice

Do you love risotto, but hesitate to make it because of all the time it takes to prepare over the stove? Here's a recipe to do it in the microwave. It still takes at least 20 minutes, but you'll have most of the time to prepare other parts of your dinner while it cooks.


Microwave risotto
4 servings

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 shallots or one small onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 cup Arborio rice
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 cup dry vermouth
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
Stir together the oil, garlic and rice in a medium glass bowl, and microwave, uncovered, for 3 minutes
Mix in the broth and wine, cover, and microwave for 16 minutes. Stir to see if broth is absorbed and risotto is creamy. If it's still too wet, microwave for another 2 to 5 minutes, then stir in the Parmesan cheese and serve. If it's too dry when you check it and the grains are still firm, add a little broth and return to the microwave for a couple of minutes before adding the cheese.

You can stir in other vegetables or meat, cooked, when you add the cheese.

No electricity? No problem

A disclaimer: No electricity during a snowstorm also means no heat, which, believe it or not, suppresses one's appetite. Or maybe it was the coffee and hot chocolate consumed to make one FEEL warm that suppresses the appetite. Regardless, two days and a night without heat was all we could take, especially as the firewood dwindled away. We decamped into town.

Yet, I really enjoyed this dish on the first night we were without power and I thought I'd share it. I intend to make it again once the heat comes back on. Along with Meyer lemon pudding cakes (I have not forgotten them!).

Scallops coriander

Ingredients

3/4 pound scallops (the bigger, the better; look for creamy to rosy colored ones)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Ground coriander (if you have seeds, toast them a little first in a cast-iron pan over medium heat until you can smell them, cool then grind)

Sea salt

Whole pepper

Instructions

• Rinse the scallops well and pat dry. Toss with the olive oil. Season scallops lightly with the ground coriander, and grinds of sea salt and whole pepper (go very easy on the pepper as not to overwhelm the delicate scallops), and toss again.
• On the camp stove, heat a medium cast-iron skillet to very hot. Add the scallops, turn the heat to low, then stir the scallops around to brown them on all sides. Cook about 10 minutes until just firm.
• Serve immediately with a salad of baby greens and arugula, cooked baby carrots tossed with brown sugar and ginger, and a side of lemon orzo (or rice). Any juice from the pan is a good addition to the orzo or rice.

Many thanks to Stuart Leavenworth, who posted a menu on his Facebook page:

What's for dinner? Corriander chicken with preserved Meyer lemon, kale and cous cous.

It inspired me to try coriander on scallops.

Oysters: Shelled out

In a perfect world, oysters would come straight from the estuary on ice, quickly shucked, a pat of flavored butter put on the oyster-on-the-half-shell sitting on a bed of rock salt, then put in the oven at 500 degrees for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly browned and bubbling: the quintessential Oysters Rockefeller, a dish named simply for its richness.

Alas, time and place were not perfect last night. The oysters were from a jar. Not having any shells, what to do? Well, I'm here to say that baked in an au gratin dish, Oysters Rockefeller are only slightly less stunning than their individual selves, and make a sumptuous dinner served over white fluffy rice. I followed the traditional recipe from "The New Orleans Cookbook" (Knoft, 1975, 264 pages) by Rima and Richard Collin, but since they were being served as a main dish rather than an appetizer, I made a few substitutions, namely more spinach and less butter. Sorry I didn't take a photo of it; the aroma was overpowering and we were hungry.

Oysters Rockefeller casserole

Serves 2

8 ounces select oysters, drained

2 cups packed raw spinach (about 5 ounces)

1/2 stick of butter, softened

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1/4 cup green onions

1 tablespoon minced celery

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons Pernod or Absinthe

Preheat oven to 500 (or the maximum recommended temperature for your au gratin dish; mine was 480 degrees). Cook the spinach in the microwave until wilted but still bright green. Drain and dump it in the food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until everything is small and well-blended.

Arrange the oysters in the bottom of the au gratin dish. Spoon the sauce over. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and lightly brown. Cool for 3-6 minutes. Serve over a bed of hot, fluffy rice.

The cycle of soup

The soups section in the supermarket seems to take up more and more of the aisle each year. Chefs have often, and often loudly, decried the American habit of thinking soup comes out of a can to the tune of "Umm, umm, good!" Some such as Wolfgang Puck have decided to add their soups to the mix. The varieties now are more numerous, but something about canning still doesn't do much for soups.

More cooks could become better soup makers if they just set aside their cookbooks once in a while and think about the cycle of soup.

First, you make a broth or stock. Take those trimmings that you would have thrown out, skin and tendons of meat, or the carrots, celery, tomatoes and onions slightly past their prime, and cover them with water and a little salt, add a bay leaf and a few peppercorns, and simmer for several hours. Strain and then you can toss the cooked remains into the garbage or compost. For meat liquids, put in the fridge or freezer until the fat congeals at the top, then throw that out, too.

If you're not ready to use it, put it in a container marked with the date and contents.

When you're ready, you can get creative. Use leftovers in your fridge if you can. If your broth is strong enough, a little vinegar on a cup or less of leftover pasta salad will be absorbed and add to the flavor of your soup. Or maybe you have a cup of leftover rice; add it to 2 cups of chicken broth, bring to a boil with the rice, then stir a little of it into a cup containing a beaten egg and the juice of a lemon. Turn the soup down to a simmer. Gentle stir the contents of the cup into the hot soup.

Experiment. If you like a combination of spices in a dish, chances are you will like it in a soup with similar ingredients. Just be aware that as a soup cooks, water evaporates, so the spices will intensify, and not all at the same rate. Chilies can be a lot hotter in soups, as can pepper. Basil may disappear (that's why it's good to add fresh basil just before serving). Lemon can brighten a bean soup; sherry can make it richer.

If you're lucky and you like soup, you may never have to throw out any leftovers again.

Spring sprung from the earth

I've written how I've come to view fava beans, with their short growing season, as the herald of spring. And they almost are exclusively a home cook's dish, since their preparation time precludes most restaurants from offering them.

Another lovely springtime offering, which also is best fresh, is morels. Even in season, they are very pricey, but the good news is that you don't need but a few ounces to make an impact in a dish. The photograph is of a black morel, courtesy of The Great Morel Picture Page.

If you go hunting for morels yourself, the good news is that the only similar poisonous mushroom is the false morel, and even that one can be tolerated by most people if cooked (but even in Finland, where the false morel is a cherished delicacy, there are deaths from eating them). Here's a bit more information on identifying the difference:

The early false morels can be told apart from the true morels by careful study of how the cap is attached to the stalk. The edge of true morels' (morchella) caps are intergrown with the stalk, but early morels' (verpas) caps hang over like a thimble, for which they are sometimes referred to as "thimble morel." Early false morels are the first morels to fruit in the spring, shortly after leaves begin to form on deciduous trees. Narrow-head morels (morchella angusticeps) fruit next, around May. The last morels to fruit are the yellow or white morels (Morchella esculenta), then crassipes.
Cap: the cap of false morels is wrinkled and irregular, bell shaped or cone shaped, attached only at apex (top) of cap not like true morels which have caps that are attached at the bottom, the color yellow brown to olive yellow or tan, darkens with age.
Stalk: 6-16 cm high, white to creamy or tan, hollow, often stuffed with white cottony pith. Spores when seen under a microscope are elliptical and have large oil droplets; true morels have no oil droplets.

Here's how we used a few fresh morels (purchased from Foods of All Nations) last night.

Twice-as-nice-a-roni with fava beans and morels

Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 pound fava beans

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided use

1/2 cup angel hair pasta, broken into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 cup basmati or other long grain rice

2 cups non-fat chicken or turkey broth

1 teaspoon butter

4 ounces fresh morels, sliced

Fresh ground pepper

Instructions

Prepare fava beans: Remove the beans from the spongy pods (the pods and the bean casings make great additions to your compost pile). Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the raw beans in their casings. Fill a bowl with water and ice. When the beans have returned to a boil, remove them from the boiling water and put in the bowl of ice water. When cool, remove the beans from their casings. Set aside.

In a saucepan that has a tight fitting lid, saute the pasta bits and the rice in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat until the rice turns white and the pasta browns. Add the broth and bring to a true boil (the liquid will look like it's boiling when you add it to the hot grains, but will then subside), then cover and turn down the heat to simmer. Set a timer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms in the butter and teaspoon of olive oil. Add a generous grinding of pepper. When they are almost softened, add the fava beans, and heat until they are just warm.

When the rice/pasta is done, add the morels/favas and stir gently to mix. Serve hot.

Note: If you want more vegetables, a half-pound of crisp-tender asparagus cut in 1/2 slices would be a good addition.

Shad roe, the harbinger of spring

In Charlottesville, Whole Foods does a nice job with its fish counter, and there's always at least two varieties of fish that meet my criteria: beautifully fresh and good value. (The only reason I don't shop there regularly is that I believe in supporting local businesses, and Charlottesville has an excellent fishmonger on West Main.) 

Yesterday was no exception. The little trouts had bright, shiny eyes, the Scottish salmon was rich and firm, but what were those strange things that looked like elongated, rosy sweetbreads doing there? 

Why, that was the legendary shad roe, which is only available fresh in the spring as the fish migrate up river from the Chesapeake Bay to spawn. It comes in two lobes, which is just enough for a meal for two.

Watching your cholesterol? Skip this dish and go back to the fish counter for a more healthful option.

Lori K's Shad Roe Brunch

Ingredients

1 twin-lobe shad roe

6 ounces butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon capers

Arugula

Cooked rice or grits

2 tablespoons bacon crumbles

Fresh crusty bread

Instructions

Poach the roe in gently simmering water for 5 minutes. Be sure the liquid does not boil; the membrane around the roe is sensitive to high heat. Drain and snip between the two lobes to separate. Melt butter in a small skillet and season with salt (if using unsalted butter) and pepper. Add the two pieces of roe. Saute for 3 minutes on each side, or until firm. Remove roe and keep warm. Add the lime juice and capers to the butter in the skillet and cook until well blended. 

To serve, make a bed of arugula around each small plate. Spoon rice or grits into the middle and top with the shad roe. Drizzle the lime-butter-caper sauce over the top and sprinkle the bacon over. Add a couple of slices of bread to the side; they will be useful to sop up the remaining sauce.

Eat like a "Slumdog"

Riding the wave of "Slumdog Millionaire," here's an easy recipe for potato curry.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
1 big onion
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoons red chili powder, divided
Garam masala
cilantro leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
4 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 cup frozen baby green peas (petit pois)

Instructions
Wash potatoes and peel them if you want them to look pretty. Otherwise, leave the nutritious skins on. Chop them into 1/2" thick cubes.
Chop onion finely. Chop tomatoes and cilantro.
Heat a wok or a sauce pan. Add oil. When oil is heated, add cumin seeds. As the seeds sizzle, add asafoetida and turmeric powder. After this, add 1/2 tsp chili powder in the tempering. This gives the gravy a nice deep red color. Also if you add chopped cilantro at this stage, it enhances the flavor of the curry.
Add onions and fry until they become light brown. Add chopped tomatoes and saute until they soften, blend with the onion and oil separates from the mixture. Then add crushed ginger and garlic. Fry until just aromatic.
Add peas and diced potatoes. Mix and add 2 cups hot water. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid and check if potatoes are tender. Add salt, masala and the rest of the chili powder and mix. Let it simmer uncovered for 5 minutes to thicken the gravy.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with plain rice.
Note: You can find the garam masala and asafoetida in Indian groceries. You can make this dish without them, but it won't taste authentic.

Low-calorie, delicious lunch

Tired of soup? Tired of sandwiches? Here's a lunch that will warm your heart. I made it at home, but it could be packed as a lunch to be made in the microwave at work.

Lori K's fast low-cal, low-carb, low fat lunch

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/4 cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

2 cups raw baby spinach (about 3 ounces)

3 ounces albacore tuna, drained

Hickory smoked salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Put broth and shallots in a deep saucepan and bring to a boil. Add spinach (it will look like a lot, but cooks down to about a 1/4 cup) and cover tightly. Boil for one minute. Stir in the tuna, and season with the smoked salt and pepper. Drain (if necessary) and serve.

Per serving: 121 calories, 2 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 5.7 g carbs

If you are watching your salt intake, use no-salt broth and add a little liquid smoke to it instead of using regular broth and hickory smoked salt. Another option would be to use half chicken broth and half lemon juice and skip the smoke.

This would also be good over rice or pasta, or mixed with white beans, for a more filling meal.

Cooking what's on hand

One of the stories my friend and good cook Al always tried to get me to do is making a meal from what's in the fridge. Since I cook a lot, I do that a lot. Not every night lends itself to blow-out meals, and trying to creatively combine what needs to be used before it spoils (with a little help from pantry items) is a joyful exercise for me.

Last night, it was the hummus that was on the verge of spoilage. It was a red pepper hummus, which seems to have a shorter shelf life than the regular. So a quick peek as to what's on hand and I came up with the following dish, which my husband couldn't say enough about as he polished it off.

Lori K's fast brown rice and artichokes bake

1 bag Success brown rice (see note)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 14-ounce can artichokes (8-10 count), drained

1 tablespoon butter

4 ounces red pepper hummus

Chicken broth

2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the bag of rice in a saucepan and cover with water. (If you like your rice salty, put a teaspoon of salt in, too.) Bring to a boil, then keep on low for 10 minutes. Drain.

In a heavy medium-size skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Mix the crumbs and seasoning in a small paper bag.  Put the artichokes in the bag, two at a time, and shake until they are well-coated. Put on a plate and repeat until they are all breaded. Add the butter to the skillet, and when it is melted, put in the artichokes. Saute until browned on all sides.

Thin the hummus with a little chicken broth until it is the consistency of gravy.

Put the drained rice in a small casserole dish or pie plate. Pour the hummus gravy over it.

Arrange the sauteed artichokes on top, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts. Serve.

Note: The hummus, rice and cheese combine to provide a complete protein in this dish. You can use regular brown rice, but allow 40-50 minutes extra for it to cook. Unlike Success white rice, which takes almost as long as regular rice to prepare (with half the taste), its brown rice is an incredible timesaver and tastes pretty good, too.

A simple supper

Over the years, Jim and I have become quite adept at fixing hot dinners that travel well. Here's one I prepared the other night. Rice is a good choice for traveling dinners; it usually stays hot for a half-hour or more.

Winter's melange

Serves 2

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

3 ounces of ham, chopped

8 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms

Fresh ground pepper to taste

½ cup uncooked rice

1 cup water

Salt to taste

2 cups baby spinach leaves (or ½ cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed)

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat; add onions and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes, add ham and saute for another minute, then add mushrooms. Season with pepper to taste. Cover, turn down heat to low and cook until the rice is done, stirring occasionally.

To cook the rice, put it in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid with the water and salt. Bring to a boil uncovered, then put on the lid and turn heat to low. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the water is absorbed. Meanwhile, if using fresh spinach, process until well chopped; if using frozen, squeeze out the excess water, and remove any tough stems.

When the rice is almost done, add the spinach, stir well, cover and continue cooking until done. The heat of the rice will cook the spinach.

Put on plates or in traveling containers, then pour the ham mixture over the rice mixture. Eat within 30 minutes, or reheat in the microwave for a minute.

Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco treat?

While I lived in Northern California, one of my favorite destinations was to San Francisco to take in a meal (or a series of meals, wandering from neighborhood to neighborhood). Yet in all the time I was there, not once, NOT ONCE did I ever EVER come across Rice-a-Roni on a menu! Yet I knew from years of watching television that it was "The San Francisco Treat." It even featured a cable car. So what gives?

Apparently, it was only created there. Here is the company's version of its history:

Like most great products, Rice-A-Roni® began as a well liked family recipe…

The DeDomenico family all enjoyed an old Armenian dish consisting of rice, vermicelli pasta and chicken broth. The rice and pasta were sauteed in butter before the liquid was added, giving the dish its distinctive taste.

In 1958, Vince DeDomenico decided to take this recipe and produce it for sale in grocery stores. He placed the rice and pasta in a box, and added a dry seasoning mix in place of the liquid chicken broth. Because this product was made up of half rice and half pasta, he decided to call it RICE-A-RONI®.

Chicken RICE-A-RONI was first introduced in the northwestern states in 1958. With it came the first RICE-A-RONI commercial, featuring San Francisco's Cable Cars and the now famous jingle. Created in San Francisco, RICE-A-RONI would soon be known to all as "The San Francisco Treat®!".

I long ago swore off the stuff, since the rice no longer tasted like rice, and it had more sodium in it than a person needed in a week. But I always liked the way it looked and decided to cook my own at home. It was surprisingly delicious! 

Lori K's Twice-as-Nice-a-Roni

Makes 3 cups

1 tablespoon oil or butter

½ cup filini pasta (or vermicelli pasta broken into 1 inch pieces)

½ cup bastmati rice

1¾ cups chicken or beef broth

Heat the oil or butter over medium high heat; when hot, add the pasta and sauté until it begins to brown, then add the rice and continue stirring until the most of the rice turns white or begins to brown. Add the broth and turn up the heat to boil. When it comes to a boil, cover and turn heat down to low. Cook for 15 minutes, fluff and serve hot.