Sunday Night Dinner

Kirk and Meredith are bringing William for dinner tonight, and Holly is coming with a strawberry shortcake. Erin has been painting in the livingroom all day and I am futzing with a bunch of details. We are heading to Los Angeles on Wednesday to show Erin’s work at a home show, so there are many little details to take care of.

At first I planned on a braised brisket, but time has run away from me, and anyway I also bought tilapia that I haven’t cooked yet and it needs to be cooked soon. So, Fish Tacos is just the thing.

This means brown rice, beans (I wanted black beans but only had pinto) tilapia, shredded cabbage, fresh salsa and a bit of goat cheese.

Man, I don’t even think I have time to write these recipes and still make dinner, so I will just write one. It is short, but invaluable.

I always here people complain that cooking brown rice is too hard to get consistent. It either comes out too mushy or two crunchy. I don’t understand it. I do it the same every time and it always comes out just right. Firm but not al dente.

I will often mince onions, mushrooms, cilantro, or other fresh vegis and toss them in right at the beginning. I even use white wine and/or chicken broth instead of the water sometimes. All this doesn’t seem to effect the texture of the final product. Adding any oil to the mix does effect the rice, so if you saute the onions or mushrooms first, your on your own.

So, here goes

Perfect Brown Rice -

1 cup brown rice

1 1/2 cups water

Put rice and water in small saucepan for which you have a tight cover. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover and simmer on low for 25 – 30 minutes until all water is absorbed.

This works for me every time.

I’ll get back to tilapia, fresh salsa, and pinto beans next time.

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