To make Spanish Rice

As making rice can be a really tricky feat, it intimidated me for a long time. My road to succesful rice was paved with sticky soggy rice,crunchy rice, and much frustration.However, thanks mostly to Diana Kennedy, I was able to conquer this tricky grain. Since there is a large margin of error, I’ll explain how to make it in stages, rather than a traditional recipe format.

Ingredients that you need:

3 Cups (dry) Medium grain rice (a medium grain jasmine will do)

1 large Yellow Onion (or 2 medium)

1 Tomato, ripe

1 can Tomato paste ( small can)

Several cloves of garlic, peeled

1 generous handful fresh cilantro (also known as coriander)

sea salt (kosher is best)

Some vegetable/canola/corn oil. Any oil for high temp. cooking      

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Put the rice in a bowl, cover with one inch of warm water and set aside. Peel the onion and cut into quarters, then cut the quarters in half and add to food processor. Drizzle with a little oil and pulse several times. Remove the food processor lid and stir the onion to help facilitate even chopping. Replace lid and use the on function until the onion has been pureed. At this point it should cease to look like onion, and more like clear oatmeal. Quarter the tomato and add it to the processor and allow it to run until it resembles this.

Add in garlic cloves and enough tomato paste to turn the mix a lovely deep red color 

Now, add in the cilantro and about a teaspoon of salt to the processor. Make sure you soak the cilantro briefly in a bowl of warm water ( it usually has dirt on the leaves. Warm water works to perk up even the saddest bunches). Puree until it looks like this.

Grab a pot. It is important for rice to choose a pan that is the right size. I always use the same pan to make this, it is 4” inches deep and about 9.5” wide. Pick a pan that is wider than tall. A thicker pan is also better, since rice is prone to sticking to the bottom. 

Add about 1/3 C. oil to the pan & turn up the heat (high). While your oil is heating grab a strainer and drain the rice completely. Place a few grains of rice in the oil. Once you start to hear the sizzle go ahead and add the rest of the rice. Use a heat proof spatula, stir the rice until it takes on a slightly golden color. It will appear/feel crunchy.

Reduce the heat slightly, at this point add in the tomato/onion mix. Stir to combine the mix with the rice. Stirring pretty much constantly, continue until nearly all the moisture has evaporated. 

Add in 4 cups (no more or less) of chicken broth. Stir well to mix and break up any clumps of rice. Toss in 1-2 whole chiles (I use Fresno peppers rather than make the rice spicy, the capsicum from the chile accentuates the other flavors, similar to the chemical reaction salt has on food.)

Cover the rice and reduce the heat to a medium low temperature. Allow it to simmer gently without stirring or removing the lid. This should take about 15-20 minutes. Check the rice after 15 minutes by keeping the cover on and gently tipping the pan away from you. If there appears to be a lot of liquid remaining, allow the rice to remain on the heat. Once the liquid has evaporated, move the pan off the heat and keep covered. Keeping the lid on allows the rice to continue steaming without burning. Allow it to sit for an additional ten minutes (this is the hardest part!), then using a fork, toss the entire contents of the pot to fluff and evenly distribute any moisture left on the top layer. Congratulations on making some great Spanish Rice! Enjoy!

P.S Thanks for waiting so long Lizzy. Sorry it took me so long!

A Mission of Sorts...

You are the daughter of the sea, oregano's first cousin.

Swimmer, your body is pure as water;

cook, your blood is quick as the soil

Everything you do is full of flowers, rich with earth

Your eyes go out toward the water, and the waves rise

your hands go out to the earth, and the seeds swell;

you know the deep essence of water and earth,

conjoined in you like a formula for clay.

Naiad: cut your body into turquoise pieces,

they will bloom resurrected in the kitchen.

This is how you become everything that lives.

And so, at last, you sleep, in the circle of my arms

that push back the shadows so you can rest- 

vegetables, seaweed, herbs: the foam of your dreams."

    ~Pablo Neruda from One Hundred Love Sonnets

  "A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish." W. H. Auden

More than anything food connects me to other people, to the earth, to life.  This is what good food should do. It should connect us to something greater than ourselves.  Great food doesn't come from a box, or from the freezer or in a can. Canned green beans never shaped any memories. The satisfiying crunch of these gently blanched legumes takes me to my grandmothers garden instantly. The smell of fresh, imperfect strawberries recalls my summer long battles with the neighbors pet peacock for the most delectable specimen. Good foods shape our memories, they transport us faster than any sensory perception. When I look back in time and I can't recall christmas presents or birthday guest lists, but oh! the foods! the cakes-those I remember! Chocolate Devils Food with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting, Texas Toffee, Strawberry Chiffon,Yellow frosted in Mocha Buttercream, Pistachio with freshly Whipped Cream, I could go on and on. 

I was allowed a special perch in my Grandmothers kitchen, where I watched her fluid movements over and over again, folding,kneading, stirring. I remember the first time I cooked without her there, and being surprised that years of watching her had taught my hands the movements while my brain simply allowed them to follow this newly discovered inborne knowledge. 

 I grew up in a family of world travelers and adventurous eaters. My Grandparents lived in Italy for about 7 years  before & during WWII. While Granddad attended his duties as a U.S Naval Captian, Grandma spent time learning about food, rubbing elbows with Italian movie stars in Corsica and Crete. She explored the markets and learned Italian, picking up tricks from her maid & acquaintances about the traditions of Italian cooking.  Needless to say, pasta is a big deal in our family, prepared simply, from scratch. Nothing in the whole wide world can pluck me out of the blues like a glass of wine and a bowl of the family spaghetti. Later on, she applied this knowledge to her favorite pastime, throwing amazing parties and feeding her ever expanding brood of family.

 My parents met in Guantanama Bay, Cuba (while both serving time in the Navy). My Mother grew up in Portland, Oregon. A city housed in the Willamette Valley, renowned for its fertile soil produce. Her grandfather owned a cattle ranch and they had a small vegetable plot behind their house, needless to say, they ate alot of fresh food (and beef!) Something of a rolling stone, she lived in  Oregon,Texas, California, and before deciding to join up with the navy. From there she lived in Florida and Cuba. After Gitmo (as we Navy folks know it) it was on to Tennessee, Virginia and Maryland. She picked up quite a few diverse food tastes in her trails, something she passed on to her children . As a child, we never ate "boxed" foods. Rather, she would spend five days preparing sauces and marinating meats to throw a Thai feast just for the fun of it. She made everything from scratch and filled with love. We were probably the only people living in Tennessee that ate sushi at that point in the early 90's!

Fast forward 

September 2008 After years of talking about it. I dropped my old life to pursue my dream. With the love and support of Ben (and my family of course!!!) I moved from Annapolis, Maryland to Portland Oregon to attend Culinary School at Western Culinary School a Le Cordon Bleu program. It took me a long time to find my way, but now that I've found it, I've never been more sure of anything.