Mushrooms and Rice and Bacon, Oh My

Not sure why, but yesterday I wanted mushrooms with my dinner. We had about 6 oz. of whole crimini mushrooms in the fridge so I just needed to decide what to make. Sweetie didn't have any preferences when I asked him, so I went with a rice dish. There wasn't a recipe for this and I didn't measure some of the ingredients, so I'll write up a recipe as best I can to keep it for the next time and to share it with you.This is a wonderful side dish with nutty flavors and delightful savory notes. If you like mushrooms, you'll love this dish!

The first thing I did was to chop some yellow onion and saute it in olive oil. Then I added the sliced mushrooms and cooked those together with some dried thyme and a little water. It smelled wonderful!

After that I decided that I wanted both bacon and pecans with the rice mixture, but first I started some brown rice mixed with chicken broth in the rice cooker and some wild rice and water in a pot on the stove.

While the rice cooked, I rendered the bacon enough so that it would crumble when it was cooled, poured off almost all of the bacon grease, then toasted the pecans in the pan I cooked the bacon in.

For timing, the wild rice was the key since it takes a little longer to cook than the brown rice. Once the wild rice was done I drained it and added it and the cooked brown rice to the mushroom mixture, along with the crumbled bacon and toasted, chopped pecans. After a quick stir and a minute on low heat to make sure everything was warm, I served it up. It was really delicious. The rice had a little chew, the nuts added crunch, the bacon and caramelized onions perked up the flavor and it all went really, really well with the mushrooms. This is a dish worth making again, and soon.

Mushroom Rice with Bacon and Pecans
Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
6 oz. small crimini mushrooms, cleaned, dried and sliced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup brown rice, rinsed
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup wild rice, rinsed
2 cups water
1-2 strips bacon
1/2 cup pecans

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-hot heat. Saute' the onions in the hot oil for 1/2 minute, then reduce heat to low and cook, stirring often, until onions become dark golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and the thyme and the water, stir, cover and let cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When time is up, turn off the heat and set aside.

While mushrooms are cooking, put the brown rice into a medium heavy bottomed pot or rice cooker and add the broth. Cover and cook over medium to low heat (mixture should simmer) until rice is cooked and tender. Set aside.

While mushrooms and brown rice are cooking, put the wild rice into a medium heavy bottomed pot or rice cooker and add the water. Cover and cook over medium to low heat (mixture should simmer) until rice is cooked and tender. Drain. Set aside.

The brown rice will take 20 - 30 minutes and the wild rice closer to 45 minutes.

While rice is cooking, in a small frying pan, cook the bacon until it is crisp enough to crumble when cool. Let cool on a paper towel, then crumble. Discard the extra bacon grease in the pan, but don't wipe it. OK to have a little bit of grease left in the pan.

In the pan the bacon was cooked in toast the pecans for 5 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring and turning them over as needed to keep them from burning. Set aside to cool, then chop the nuts.

Once all the rice is cooked, reheat the mushroom mixture over medium heat for about a minute, then add the two kinds of rice, the crumbled bacon and the chopped pecans. Stir well to combine, heat another minute over medium-low heat, covered, then serve while hot.

Winter Squash Season Side Dish

Time just seems to be flying these days! Found something I think that you will want to try yourself. About a month ago Sweetie and I were at Costco and they had tastings of some new products, all Afghan recipes. I sometimes think that a raft of people only go to Costco on the weekends for the samples, not to actually buy anything. Is that possible?

Anyhoo, we fell in love with a butternut squash side dish that was savory, with a hint of sweetness and a touch of heat. Sweetie decided that we should try making it ourselves, so I researched online and found about six different ways to make it. One of the constants was onion puree. I usually chop or mince my onions for most dishes, but for this one I put the peeled and quartered yellow onion into the food processor and let it run until it was a puree. I found that the cooked puree not only flavored the squash, but it seemed to thicken the sauce a bit, or at least provide body to the sauce.

I ended up combining a few of the recipes. Most had a goodly amount of peppers for heat, but since I was going for the very mild heat that I prefer, I used a small amount of cayenne pepper. If you like your food hotter, you can add jalapenos or increase the cayenne. They often had more turmeric, too. I know that turmeric is good for you , but it is not my favorite flavor, so I used only a teaspoon, while some recipes used as much as a tablespoon. Try it with a smaller amount unless you know that you love turmeric. You can always add more.

One of the most time consuming parts of this kind of recipe is preparing the butternut squash. Sweetie got past that by buying already peeled and cubes fresh squash. Beyond that the part that requires some time is that during the cooking you need to turn the squash over in the sauce every 10 minutes and to keep an eye on it so that the sauce cooks down, but doesn't burn.

This makes a lovely side dish. Traditionally it is served with naan flatbread and yogurt, usually garlic yogurt, but I served it with grilled chicken and the yogurt topping was plain yogurt. The chunks of butternut squash were tender, but not falling apart. They had an aroma of turmeric and onion and tomato. Now that it is winter squash season, give this a try, either as part of a traditional meal, with some eggplant, too, or as a side dish. It would go well with pork or heaped over a serving of couscous with pine nuts. You can substitute another kind of squash, like kabocha, or pumpkin, too.

Afghan Squash

1 large yellow onion
1/4 olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken broth
4 cups peeled, de-seeded, and cubed butternut squash or pumpkin

Peel the onion and remove the stem end and the tip. Cut onion into four pieces. Place in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until pureed, scraping down the sides as needed so that all the onion is a puree. In a large skillet cook the onion puree in the olive oil for 10 minutes, stirring often. All of the squash will need to go into the skillet, preferably in a single layer, so make sure the skillet is large enough.

To the cooked onion add the garlic, tomato paste, turmeric (you can add more if you like...I've seen as much as a tablespoon used), minced fresh ginger, sugar and salt. Stir to combine, then add the chicken broth and stir to completely combine all the ingredients in the mixture. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat so mixture simmers. Add the prepared squash and stir to coat the squash with the mixture. As mush as possible, keep the squash in a single layer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Turn squash over so that top surface goes toward the bottom and is immersed in the sauce. Simmer another 10 minutes. Check squash for tenderness. You want the squash completely tender, but still holding together. Simmer another 5 or 10 minutes (or longer) if needed until squash is tender. Sauce will have thickens a bit. If squash is very tender, but sauce is too thin, remove squash with a slotted spoon, cover to keep warm, then simmer sauce some more until it is desired thickness. Put squash back into sauce and stir to coat with sauce. Serve at once, garnished with yogurt, or cover and refrigerate, then reheat the next day.

Speaking of time passing, we are just about a month away from Thanksgiving. Our neighbors have invited us for dinner and I think this year we will be enjoying a heritage turkey. It might be one of these blue faced toms. I snapped these shots as they tried to intimidate the dog. She is a sheep dog, but was having fun herding the chickens and turkeys, too.

Forbidden

There is a sense of mystery about something forbidden...and a challenge, too. I felt that way upon discovering black forbidden rice, a gorgeous black rice with a nutty flavor similar to wild rice. The mystery is how to use this lovely grain to best advantage...and that was the challenge, too.

A salad or room temperature dish seemed like a good idea so I trolled the Internet and found something close to what I wanted with a Black Forbidden Rice with Sugar Snap Peas and Nectarine dish by Giada De Laurentiis. It can be served warm or at room temperature, it has a slightly Asian feeling with fresh ginger and soy sauce and the combination of fruits and vegetables is interesting, too. As usual I had some ideas on how to change the recipe to make it my own.

My version keeps the ginger and the soy sauce, but I add a strong orange note with both orange zest and juice in the dressing. I find that citrus adds a sparkle to both rice and bean dishes. I was out of nectarines, but had just purchased fresh red cherries so I used them.

Cherries and oranges are also a great combination. For a bit of crunch I added celery and some green onions for their fresh green taste.

I had thought that such a good dose of fresh ginger would leave a strong ginger taste in the rice but during the cooking process the ginger is muted and the flavor of the rice shines with just a hint of ginger in the background. I didn't use any hot sauce or other additional heat but after tasting this rice dish I think that you could add a little fresh minced ginger to the dressing or a dash of cayenne if you like your food a bit spicier than I do and it would be a great addition.

By the time I served this dish, the rice was lukewarm. The warm cherry mixture was perfect with the slightly cooler rice and the dressing added just the right mixture of salty and sweet. Sweetie took two helping, so I suspect that this will be a hit with your family, too. If you wish to dress this beautiful rice dish up, you could sprinkle some toasted sliced almonds over it when you are ready to serve it.
Black Forbidden Rice with Cherries

based on a recipe of Giada De Laurentiis'

Serves 4-6

Rice:
3 1/2 cups water
2 cups black forbidden rice
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 green onion, sliced, white part only
6 oz fresh cherries, pitted and halved

Dressing:
1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Directions:
For the rice: In a medium saucepan, bring the water, rice, ginger, and salt to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover the pan, and cook until the rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and place in a large serving bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the celery and green onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add the cherry halves and sauté for 2 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the serving bowl with the cooked rice.

For the dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the rice vinegar, oil, honey, orange juice, soy sauce and orange zest until smooth.

Pour the dressing over the rice and cherry mixture and toss gently to combine. Serve warm or at room temperature.