Cilantro Lime Rice

Over the next few days I'll be posting the recipes I used to recreate the Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad for a birthday party. On the last day I'll show you how the salad came together. I have to say this was a big hit at the party and there were no leftovers.

Cilantro Lime Rice
3 c water
3 c rice
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp salt
¼ cup lime juice
1/2 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro, remove large stems
1 small can green chiles

Place water, rice, bouillon, and salt in pot. Bring to boil. Place lime juice, onion, garlic, cilantro and green chilies in a blender and puree. Stir into rice. Simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes.

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar Butter Sauce

Every year we get acorn squash with our CSA and every year I donate it to the food bank or a neighbor or I throw it away. This year I've received three so far and have decided I don't want to throw it away so I searched the internet and my cookbooks for a recipe. Most of the recipes call for you to stuff the squash with rice and sausage which for some reason did not sound too appealing to me. I ended up finding a recipe that made the squash a lot like a loaded sweet potato. I will admit I ended up really liking the squash and will make this again. The flavors blended well together and the squash was tender. As you can tell from the picture I ended up with a nice amount of buttery liquid so you may want to cut back on the butter some if you want to cut some calories. I'm not sure why I had so much liquid when the blog I found the recipe on did not have this problem.

Acorn Squash with Brown Sugar Butter Sauce
Savory Sweet Life

1 acorn squash, cut in half with seeds removed

1/2 cup water

a couple pinches of salt

a couple pinches of nutmeg

a couple pinches of cinnamon

2 – 1 Tablespoon pats of butter

4-6 Tablespoons brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven on HIGH-Broiler. Pour water in a microwavable casserole dish large enough to accommodate the squash. Place the acorn squash flesh side down in the dish and microwave for 15 minutes. Remove from microwave carefully because the dish will be hot. Remove the acorn squash and transfer to a baking sheet with the flesh side facing up. Place a small pat of butter in each half and rub the entire flesh sided surface. Any remaining butter should be left in the middle of the squash. Sprinkle the squash with salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Finally sprinkle between 2-3 Tablespoons of brown sugar around the rim of the squash and allow the remaining sugar to join the butter in the center (This will be your brown sugar sauce). Broil on high heat for 5 minutes. You should seam some the rim of the squash with caramelization. If not, broil for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and enjoy!

**Note: This recipe is not overly sweet or spicy. The sugar and spices merely enhance the wonderful natural flavor of the squash. If you prefer a more sweet and spicy acorn squash just add more according to your liking.

Sour Cream Rice

I discovered this great recipe on a blog that I discovered the other day. Gianina posted this recipe and it just called out to me. The flavors were great and it was quite easy to put together. Here is the link to Gianina's post about this dish.

2 cups rice, cooked
1 tsp salt
1/2 T. garlic powder
2 cups sour cream
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese or any soft white cheese
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, no seeds or 1/2 cup chopped fresh chili pepper, no seeds

While cooking rice, season with salt and garlic powder. Mix cooked rice, sour cream and green chiles. Mix grated cheeses together and reserve 1 cup for topping. Stir in cheeses with rice/sour cream mixture. Pour rice mixture into a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with reserved 1 cup grated cheese. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Georgette's Really Lemony Greek Pilafi

Another dish from our Greek dinner. This was unbelievable good. I liked the taste so much more than the rice from the local Greek place. I found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen and have made it a few times. The rice had good flavor with just enough lemon flavor. A few things I did differently, I misread the recipe when I made the rice this time and used 2 tablespoons of butter. I don't recommend this as you could taste the butter and it distracted some from the recipe. However using one tablespoon olive oil and one tablespoon is the way I've made it in the past and its really good that way. I also did not use the converted rice. I don't buy the stuff so I used other rice. I usually make it with medium grain brown or white rice but this time I used jasmine rice. I really liked the jasmine rice in this dish and will probably use it all the time now.

1 cup Uncle Ben's Converted Rice (not instant)
2 T olive oil (or 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil)
1 tsp. salt
3 T lemon juice (or more)
3 C chicken stock

Use a heavy pan with a tight fitting lid. Saute rice in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add salt and lemon juice and saute 1 minute more. Add chicken stock carefully so it doesn't splash up on you, let it come to a boil, reduce heat to the lowest you can get it and still keep the liquid boiling and cook 30 minutes without peeking at all.

After 30 minutes you are allowed to peek to see if all the liquid is absorbed. If not cook a few more minutes until it has.

Mexican Rice

I've been on quest to find a great Mexican rice recipe and I think I've finally found one I could stomach on a regular basis. This had great flavors and was pretty easy to make. I did leave out the jalepenos since I'm not a fan of overly spicy food. I was going to add green chilies but I forgot to put them in. I used a can of diced Mexican tomatoes in place of the fresh ones. Everyone who tried it liked the rice and I will be making it again. I found the recipe



12 ounces tomatoes, very ripe and cored
1 medium white onion
3 medium jalapenos
2 cups long grain white rice
1/3 cup canola oil
4 minced garlic cloves
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1 lime



Adjust rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350.


Process tomato and onion in processor or blender until pureed and thoroughly smooth. Transfer mixture to measuring cup and reserve exactly 2 cups. Discard excess.


Remove ribs and seeds from 2 jalapenos and discard. Mince flesh and set aside. Mince remaining jalapeno. Set aside.


Place rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear- about 1 1/2 minutes.Shake rice vigorously to remove excess water.This step removes the starch from the rice so it will not stick. IF YOU OMIT THIS STEP YOUR RICE WILL NOT BE DRY AND FLUFFY.

Heat oil in heavy bottomed ovensafe 12 inch straight sided sautee pan or Dutch oven with tight fitting lid over medium high heat about 2 minutes. (The recipe is very specific about this but I used a 10 inch dutch oven and it worked out fine.) Drop a few rice grains in and if they sizzle then it is ready. Add rice and fry stirring until rice is light golden and translucent, about 6-8 minutes.


Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and 2 minced jalapenos and cook , stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 1/2 minutes.


Stir in broth, pureed mixture,tomato paste, and salt. Increase heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.


Cover pan and transfer pan to oven to bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30-35 minutes.Stir well after 15 minutes.


Stir in cilantro, minced jalapeno to taste, and pass lime wedges separately.

Mexican Rice

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
salt, to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
½ to 1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
Stir in onions and cook until tender. Add garlic and jalapeno. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.