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Jasmine Rice
While Anjelica was doing her magic with making the pieroges,
Robin got busy with the Jasmine Rice dish.. I thought I had
a picture or two, but found that I don't.. anyway, it looks
like fried rice, as it has some veggies in it, as well. but
YU-HUM!!! It's great!
This jasmine rice is
infused with lentils, onions, green peppers,
cilantro, (coconut milk is optional but very good as well)
white zinfandel wine, saffron, vegetable stock; frozen peas,
frozen broccoli, thyme (a comforting spice in the winter
time, also it's sort of an 'island' spice, and he likes
using that a lot)
This is sort of 'an I'm from de I-lands, Mon' recipe.. one
Robin and Lori are famous for creating on a regular basis..
one of Robin's Friends, Dickey (a fabulous musician who was
visiting on Christmas day), said, "Hey, there's nothing
better than leftovers at Robin and Lori's house.. it's
5-star chef goods! And WE get them!"
Anyway, first, to get the infusion happening, you take a
pinch of saffron (see saffron information below.. hey, never
let it be said we don't educate, as well as illuminate &
illucidate!), put 3 tbl of white Zinfandel in bottom of a
cup, add two to three pinches of saffron & steep until the
saffron turns the wine bright yellow.
While the saffron is grooving in the wine, sauté onions &
green peppers, until wilted & beginning to brown. Stir in
1.5 cup jasmine rice (from any grocery store), the white zin/saffron
blend & add to rice/onion mix, pour in veggie stock (1 qt
into about 1.5 cu rice), a squirt of Thai hot sauce (tuong
ot suriracha ~ with the chicken on it) Danger! More
education:{suriacha ~ made from sun-ripened chilies, is
ready to use in soups, sauces, pasta, pizza, hot dogs,
hamburgers, chow mien.}
Put the lid on and let it cook for 20 min over an open
flame; add the peas, broccoli when fluffed & VIOLA! There it
is!
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**Saffron information:
The most precious and most expensive spice in the world:
Saffron.
The Saffron filaments, or threads, are actually the dried
stigmas of the saffron flower, "Crocus Sativus Linneaus".
Each flower contains only three stigmas. These threads must
be picked from each flower by hand, and more than 75,000 of
these flowers are needed to produce just one pound of
Saffron filaments, making it the world?s most precious
spice.
But, because of saffron's strong coloring power and intense
flavor, it can be used sparingly. Saffron is used both for
its bright orange-yellow color and for its strong, intense
flavor and aroma.
Crocus Sativus
Linneaus contains crocin, the source of its strong coloring
property, bitter-crocin, which offers the distinctive aroma
and taste and essential oils which are responsible for its
therapeutic properties.
Saffron is available both in filaments and powder, though
the long, deep red filaments are usually preferable to the
powder as the latter can be easily adulterated.
Today, the greatest saffron producing countries are Greece,
Spain, Turkey, Iran, India, and Morocco.
The largest saffron importers are Germany, Italy, U.S.A.,
Switzerland, U.K., and France ( From greekproducts. com ~
YOUR source for, guess what.. Greek Products!:
http://greekproducts.com/greekproducts/saffron/
)
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Pasta salad
For this salad, grab what you have on hand. For this one,
Robin added heart of palm, olives, artichoke hearts,
anything.. whatever.. zucchini, mushrooms, olives (black),
penne regatta (lines) parsley, chopped eggs, shredded
cheese, and your favorite salad dressing. Here are a couple
of pictures of the salad .. & others of the party itself..
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