Tag Archives: rice

Meat and Poultry

Boxing Day Turkey Rice

This was always the traditional left-over-turkey dish that was made in our home on Boxing Day. Mom would make Boxing Day turkey rice in the turkey roaster and it would fill the kitchen for a second time with the rich smell of roast turkey, stuffing, and sage.

Boxing Day is December 26th, the day after Christmas. It stems from the British tradition, followed in Canada, of giving gifts to the poor after Christmas (perhaps in the form of leftover food, I’ve always thought…just like this turkey rice made of all the table leftovers from our Christmas meal)

Ingredients

  • Shredded left-over Christmas turkey meat
  • Left-over turkey stuffing, crumbled or cut into small pieces
  • Left-over Christmas dinner vegetables, diced or chopped
  • 1 can kernel corn
  • 3 carrots, cubed
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • 5 chicken livers, chopped (optional)
  • 1 T sage
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 T chopped parsley
  • 2 tsp salt
  • Rice (2-1 liquid-to-rice ratio )
  • Turkey broth from bones, plus left-over gravy
  • Water as needed

Preparing Boxing Day Turkey Rice

Remove meat from turkey bones. Boil up bones until a good broth is formed, the longer, the better.

In a large roasting pan, combine all ingredients except broth and rice. Measure out enough liquid (gravy mixed with turkey broth and, if necessary, extra water) to cover all ingredients in pan well. Add rice at a 2-1 ratio and stir it all together.

Cover with foil and place in a 350ºF oven. Bake for about 1-1/4 hours or until most of liquid is absorbed, then uncover and bake more (up to about 2 hours) until the top of rice is crusty and brown.

Fish and Seafood

Chupe de Camarones

Chilean shrimp stew

1-1/2 lbs jumbo shrimp in shells
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb. whitefish heads and trimmings
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp. chopped chiles
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 quarts water
2 large potatoes, cubed
2 potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 lb. green peas
1/2 cup long grain rice
2 ears of corn, cut in thirds
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Clean the shrimp, saving shells. In a casserole, heat the oil. Add onion, shrimp shells, fish trimmings, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato, chile, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add water and diced potatoes. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Pour into a sieve over a bowl and force through with a spoon. Discard the pulp. Return puree to casserole, bring to a boil and add potato halves and rice. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Add peas and corn. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Drop in shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat eggs. Pour eggs slowly into the stew. Add milk and simmer to heat through. Season and sprinkle with parsley.

Meat and Poultry

Paella Valenciana: Spanish Rice with Chicken and Rabbit

Spanish rice with chicken and rabbit

Ingredients

Katalina
The Cat That Went to Spain–Katalina, circa 1988

  • 1/2 chicken, cut up
  • 1/2 rabbit, cut up
  • 2 or 3 ripe tomatoes
  • 1 artichoke, cooked and separated
  • 1/4 cup peas
  • 2 cups rice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt and 2 or 3 filaments of saffron
  • 4 cups water or broth

Preparation

Heat oil in a paella pan or shallow skillet. Throw in cut chicken and rabbit. Reduce heat and sauté until golden.

Add the tomatoes, chopped finely, and the artichoke. Cook 5 minutes. Add water. When it breaks into a boil, add the rice, salt, and saffron.

Lower flame gradually as rice cooks. Cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Remove from flame and let sit for a few minutes before serving. Servings: 6

Note: This is the true Valencia-style dish–made without seafood–as opposed to paella from Alicante, which does contain seafood. This little fact could cause dissension amongst the ranks of those who believe paella is synonymous with a seafood dish. The word paella, in fact, is the name of the wide, flat-bottomed pan in which the rice dish, whether seafood based or otherwise, is made.

 

Desserts and Sweets

Old Fashioned Rice Pudding

This is not a quick, stove-top rice pudding. This is the real thing: the hours of slow cooking turn the rice into a delicious vanilla-flavored cream with crusty edges.

  • 4 cups milk
  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup uncooked rice
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/2 cup raisins

In oven-proof dish, mix the milk, sugar. rice, salt and vanilla. Bake, uncovered, for 3 hours at 300F, stirring three times during the first hour. After the first hour, stir in raisins and continue baking until done.

Easy vegan: Substitute almond milk for the regular milk and use raw sugar.

Meat and Poultry

Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage 2

This recipe, Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage 2, comes from an old Hungarian cookbook that’s almost falling apart. Dad made rudimentary translations of some of the entries that were particularly evocative of his childhood years in Hungary.

Töltött káposzta II (Cabbage Rolls)

Recipe from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

  • Ground pork
  • Chopped bacon
  • Uncooked rice
  • 1 egg
  • Sauerkraut leaves
  • Sauerkraut
  • Browned flour roux

Wrap mixture of pork, bacon, raw rice, and 1 egg in pickled cabbage leaves. Place in large pot with sauerkraut between layers. Cover with water. Cover and cook. Thicken sauce with brown flour roux before serving.

Variation. Layer all of the cabbage roll ingredients with the sauerkraut and leaves.

Expert Book of the Cook: Hungarian cookbook

Meatless Main Dishes, Vegan Versions

Vegan Collard Rolls (aka Cabbage Rolls)

This recipe was inspired by Mom’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, which were a staple in our home when we were growing up. Now that I no longer eat animal products, this version made with beans and Portobello mushrooms, completely satisfies the urge for some of Mom’s home cooking, especially when topped off by rich Cashew Sour Cream. Just like the original Cabbage Rolls, they’re always better the next day!

Collard Greens for Stuffed Collard Rols

Ingredients for Vegan Collard Rolls (aka Cabbage Rolls)

  • 12 large collard leaves, stems trimmed, blanched
  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • 1 cup cooked black beans, drained
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped green or red pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery
  • 2 Portobello mushrooms, finely diced
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tsp sage
  • 2 T chopped chives
  • 1 T nutritional yeast (optional)
  • 2 tsp powdered kelp (optional)

Have ready the 12 trimmed and blanched collard leaves (you can use cabbage leaves if you’d prefer).

In a large bowl, mix together the cooked rice and beans.

In a skillet, fry the onion, peppers, and celery in a little olive oil until soft. Add to the rice/bean mixture along with the diced Portobello mushrooms Season with salt and pepper, the sage, chives, and optional nutritional yeast and kelp powder. Combine well. If it’s sticky, so much the better.

Set a collard leaf,, stem-end toward you, flat in front of you and heap a tablespoon or two of filling near the bottom edge. Roll forward, tucking the sides in as you roll, and finish rolling, leaving the final edge underneath the roll so the weight of it holds it closed.

Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce (below) on the bottom of a 9×13″ oven-proof dish and nestle the rolls together on top of the sauce so that they hold each other in place snuggly. Pour enough of the tomato sauce on top to cover the rolls and fill in some of the spaces. The sauce will keep your rolls moist.

Place in a pre-heated 350 F (180 C) oven for about 45 minutes, until much of the sauce is absorbed and bubbly.

Remove rolls carefully with a spatula onto serving plates and top with dollops of Cashew Sour Cream (below). Top with extra heated tomato sauce at the table if you’d like the rolls moister.

Seasoned Tomato Sauce:

  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2 cups homemade or canned tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients over low to medium heat and cook for about 15 minutes to meld flavors.

Cashew Sour Cream

  • 1/2 cup soaked and drained raw cashews
  • 1/4 block (about 3 oz) silken tofu
  • 2 tsp lemon or lime juice
  • 2 tsp unseasoned rice vinegar
  • 2 T avocado oil or or 1/4 of a fresh avocado
  • sea salt to taste

Blend the cashews, tofu, lime/lemon juice, vinegar, avocado (or oil) and salt to taste in a small food processor or blender until smooth and fluffy. This will make a thick, stiff cream that will easily keep in the fridge (covered) for a couple of days should you have any left over.

Meat and Poultry

Lecso

  • 2 lbs. pork, cubed
  • 4 onions, sliced
  • Oil for frying
  • 6 green peppers, sliced
  • 3 hot peppers, chopped
  • 8 ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • 1-1/2 cups rice
  • 3 cups water
  • 4 polish sausages, cut in pieces

Brown pork with 1 of the onions in oil in large pot. Add a little water and cook until pork is done. Add sausage. Add rest of onions, green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers and rice and combine well. Heat over low flame until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Meat and Poultry

Mom’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

This recipe for cabbage rolls is the basic Eastern European version that we knew as kids: a savory melding of rice and ground meat rolled in cabbage leaves and smothered in thick tomato sauce. It was always served with sour cream.

Mom would make a whole turkey pan full of cabbage rolls, enough to feed the six of us and more for at least  two or three sittings. As the leftovers sat and aged in their sauce over the next few days, the taste intensified and filled out… I always preferred leftover cabbage rolls over freshly made ones.

There are endless variations of cabbage rolls. One Ukrainian version is pickled cabbage leaves (sauerkraut style) stuffed  with fried onions, ground meat, and buckwheat and baked in a meaty broth instead of tomato sauce. Similar cousins  are rice and lamb stuffed grape leaves in Middle Eastern cuisine.

Ingredients for Mom’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

  • 1 head of cabbage
  • 1 lb. mixed ground beef and ground pork (either half and half or slightly more beef than pork)
  • 1 finely minced onion
  • 1 cup cooked rice
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1-1/2 t salt
  • 1/4 t pepper
  • 1 large can tomato soup + 3 T ketchup*
  • 1 cup water
  • Sour cream for serving

Core cabbage. Place in large pot of boiling water with a splash of vinegar. Cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and let stand 10 to 15 minutes to cool. Sauté onion in a little butter. Mix together the ground beef, onion, rice, salt and pepper. Separate cabbage leaves. Shave off the ribs. Put a large spoonful of meat mix at the base of each leaf and roll up tightly. May fasten with toothpicks. Place in an oiled oven pan, nestling the rolls together so they won’t unroll. Mix together the tomato juice, catchup, and water. Pour over cabbage rolls. Bake, covered, at about 325 F for 1-1/2 hours.

These are best removed from the oven and let sit to settle and thicken the sauce a bit before serving. Place bowls of thick sour cream on the table, and mound a large tablespoonful of the cream on each cabbage roll before eating.

* Mom always swore by Aylmer’s tomato soup instead of tomato puree for making real Cabbage rolls., but it wasn’t always easy to find.

cabbage for cabbage rolls

Fish and Seafood

Caldero Murciano

  • 1 lb. mullet, whole
  • 2 lbs. other mixed whole hearty fish
  • 2 cups rice
  • 2 dried pimientos, if available (otherwise, regular pimientos)
  • 3 heads of garlic
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 1-1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 8 cups water
  • Saffron, salt and pepper
  • 1 small, cooked potato

Cut heads off fish and reserve. Cut fish bodies into thick rounds and sprinkle with salt. Set aside. Heat half of the oil in a heavy pot( traditionally iron). Fry the dried pimientos. Remove and put aside.

Add the fish heads to the same pot. Fry and remove. Throw the tomatoes, peeled and chopped, into the same pot. Fry 5 minutes. Add 8 cups water. In a mortar, crush the pimientos, one head of garlic, and 3 or 4 saffron filaments.

Add to pot and cook 5 minutes. Add the fish bodies and cook until done. Remove fish and set aside, keeping warm. Set aside 1 cup of the fish stock. Season the rest of the stock with salt and pepper and add the rice, letting cook over low flame for 20 minutes.

In the mortar, crush another head of garlic and mix with the cup of reserved fish stock. This will be used as a sauce for the fish upon serving. Crush the third head of garlic with the cooked potato; combine with the egg yolk and rest of oil. This sauce is for the rice. Serve the fish and rice separately with their respective sauces.