Chicken, spinach and yellow pepper rice

I was expecting some guests this weekend and I set up my mind to prepare them stuffed orange peppers (at my husband's request). Unfortunatelly they couldn't make it and I'm stuck with a lot of orange peppers in the fridge. Googling around to found a recipe that uses the peppers, I came accross this one. Just cooked it for dinner and it's absolutely delicious. Very subtil in the flavours, so we grated some parmesan on top to give it a bit more body, just before serving.

Ingredients


1 tbsp Olive oil
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped
300 g plump short or medium-grained white rice
150ml white wine or verjus
1-1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
125g chicken, cooked
40g spinach leaves
black pepper

Method

1. Place the stock in a small saucepan and bring to simmering point.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the yellow pepper and fry, stirring often, until the pepper has softened but not browned. Add the rice and continue cooking and stirring for 1-2 minutes, until the rice is translucent and shiny.

3. Pour the wine or verjus into the pan of rice and simmer until it has almost evaporated. Add a ladle of the hot stock to the rice and cook, stirring constantly, over a low heat until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock to the rice a little at a time and stirring until the liquid has been absorbed, for about 17 minutes.

4. When the rice is almost done, add the chicken and the spinach leaves and stir to mix evenly. Allow to heat through for 2-3 minutes, then adjust the seasoning to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot.

Duck rice

This is a very traditional portuguese dish and I remember that whenever this was on the menu that's all my portuguese colleagues would eat. It's very similar (in the preparation) to the chicken and chorizo rice

Serves 4 people
easy

1 Duck (I used the left overs of the duck I roasted sunday. If it's just for two people, it's more then enough)
400g of rice
250g of ham
1 chorizo
1 onion
olive oil
salt and pepper
Cook the duck, ham, onion and chorizo in salted water. Add pepper to taste. When cooked (or in my case, softned - took about 25-30 min for the carcass to be soft), drain the meat and put aside the broth. Cut the duck in pieces, slice the chorizo and the ham. Remove the bones from the duck. Cook the rice on the water you used to cook the duck.
After cooked, put half the rice in a oven proof dish greased with a bit of butter, cover it with the duck, chorizo and ham pieces and cover it all with the rest of the rice. Sprinkle some of the duck water on top of it all and put it in the oven or grill to golden it.

Serve hot.

Chicken rice, Minas Gerais style (Galinhada mineira)

Time of preparation: 2h

This is a big recipe for a gathering, for example.. for just my small family I reduce it by half.

5 cups of long grain rice (I use just 2)
800 g of chicken breast (I use just 150-200g)
800g of chicken parts (wings, thighs, drumstick, etc)  - I use parts of 1 chicken only or even half that

4 tomatoes
3 onions
parsley and chives
3 limes
olive oil
pepper
salt
Prepare the beans as normal, cooking it and put aside. Slice the sausage , fry it and put aside.
Cut the chiken in pieces (about 1-2cm) and season them with salt and garlic. In medium heat, heat up the oil in a sauce pan and fry 2 chopped onions. Add the chicken, moving it constantly. When the sauce dries up and the saucepan botton starts to look dark brown add a bit of water, enough to soften this dry brown sauce and continue to mix it. Repeat this several times. It is important to have patience, for you need to dry it and soften it several times, until the chicken itself becomes darkened (it takes 20 min to 30 min).

Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to caramelise the chicken.

Add the rice, mix it well and cover it with boiling water up to 2cm on top of the rice line. When it boils again, lower the heat. Cover the pan and let it cook in low heat. When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and keep the pan covered.
Slice the tomatos and the onions in small cubes. Add parsley, chives and season with lime, olive oil, black pepper, salt and a bit of water. Put it on a fridge (as if making a vinaigrette)
Serve it all with a good spicy sauce (such as tabasco sauce) on the side.

Pumpkin and parmesan risotto

time of preparation: 30 min

570ml/1 pint vegetable or chicken stock
1 small onion, chopped
12 fresh sage leaves, chopped finely
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup of arborio (risotto) rice
250g pumpkin or butternut squash, diced small
50g butter
1/2 cup of grated parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the crispy sage
12-16 fresh sage leaves
2 tbsp sunflower oil
For serving
piece fresh parmesan, or vegetarian parmesan-style grating cheese

Method
1. Heat the stock until almost boiling and then keep over a very low heat. In a separate heavy-based saucepan sweat the onion in the oil until soft but not browned. Add the chopped sage and cook for a couple more minutes.
2. Add the rice and mix well for a few seconds to coat the grains with oil, then pour in one-third of the stock and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook until almost all the stock is absorbed. Add the pumpkin or squash and a little more stock, and continue to simmer gently until the stock is absorbed.
3. From then on add more stock a little at a time, until the pumpkin is soft and the rice nicely al dente. You may not need all the stock, but the texture should be loose and creamy.
4. When the risotto is almost ready, heat the sunflower oil in a small pan and quickly fry the sage leaves until crispy - it takes a matter of seconds.
5. Stir the butter into the risotto, and season well with salt and pepper. Add the parmesan and stirr until it melted. Divide into four servings and throw a few crispy sage leaves over each portion. Bring the cheese and a grater to the table for your guests to serve themselves.

Chicken and chorizo rice

Time of preparation: 1h30min

1 chicken carcass
1 chorizo
bacon
3 tbspoons of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves
pepper
salt
1 carrot
parsley
long grain rice
3 cloves of garlic

Cook the chiken, the chorizo and the bacon in salt water. When it boils, add the onion, cloves, carrot, pepper and parsley. Let it cook slowly (about 45 min).
Remove the chicken and remove all the meat from it. Slice the carrot and the chorizo. Chop the bacon.

Sieve the broth and remove a bit of the fat. On another pan, add the olive oil and fry the garlic. Add the rice. Add the broth from the chicken (must be double the amount of the rice). Let it boil. When the rice has absorbed most of the water, but is not entirely cooked, remove it from the hob and put it in an oven proof dish. Put half the rice, add the chicken and then the rest of the rice. On top, decorate with the chorizo, bacon and the carrot.
Bake it untill cooked. Serve it with salad

Tomato rice (Arroz de tomate)

This is a portuguese recipe, and mostly I saw it served with fried fish, but I serve it with steaks too.

300g of long grain rice
chives
1 clove of garlic
2 tbspoons of olive oil
250g of chopped tomatoes
1 leaf of laurel (or bayleaf)
salt
pepper

Fry the chives and garlic on the olive oil. Add the tomatoes and bay leaf. Add the water (2 1/2 times the volume of rice), add salt and pepper and let it boil. Add the rice. Let it boil, put the lid on (on an angle, not to cover completely) and let it boil for 20 min.

Fried rice cakes (bolinho de arroz)

Time of preparation: 25 min

2 cups of cooked white rice
1/2 cup of grated cheese
1/2 cup of milk
1 tbspoon parsley
1 tbspoon of chives
1 tbspoon of baking soda
1/2 cup of corn flour
1/2 cup of flour
3 eggs
oil (enough to fry)


Mix all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Fry 1tbspoon of the mixture in hot oil, allowing it to golden on both sides. Put it over kitchen towel to drain. Can be served hot or at room temperature, as snacks.

Brazilian rice

Why brazilian rice? Because it is loose and dry. It is neutral and goes with pretty much everything. Brazilians have a different way of cooking rice, which makes it sooo good, you can pretty much cook it with any dish.

Time of preparation: 25 min
2 portions

1 cup of long grain rice
2-3 tbspoons of oil
1/2 onion, chopped
salt (about half to 1/3 of a tbspoon)
boiling water

Here's where the difference starts: there is no brazilian rice without onion. The onion is what is going to give it a special scent and flavour.
In a pan (best if it is not a thick one), heat up the oil in medium heat and add the onions, the salt and the rice. This is the seccond difference. Brazilians fry the rice before they add the water, which makes it loose. Fry it for about a minute, mixing it to make sure they are covered with oil and salt. Add water, enough to cover the rice and, when you look at the pan, the water is up to 1 to 2 fingers above the line of rice. Try the water and check for salt.
Lower the heat, put on the lid (but do not cover the pan: leave it at an angle, so the water can evaporate).
Let it cook for 20 min and try the rice. If it is a bit chewy, you can add a bit more water to cook it more. If it is soft and there's a bit of water still in the pan, uncover the pan and mix the rice, to help the water evaporate.

If you put too much water, don't panic. You can put the rice in a sieve and let it drain when ready.

If it is not right the first time, don't panic. This rice takes a bit of getting used to it. Eventually you'll find the right amount of water to the rice and it will be perfect.

Rapini rice

When I lived in Portugal, I fell in love with the cuisine and I miss it a lot. Here's a simple recepi of rice with rapini. If you don't know what rapini is, click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini

2 cups of long grain rice
3 tbsponn of olive oil
1/2 shoot of rapini
4 cups of water
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
salt

Fry the onion and the garlic in the olive oil. Add the rapini (we only use the pointed leaves). Add water and season with salt and pepper. When it boils, add the rice, lower the heat and let it cook for 20 minutes.