Last weekend I made a special dinner for Handsome Greg’s birthday. The meal began with his favorite pepperoni-stuffed chicken, and ended, sadly, with a boxed yellow cake mix and canned chocolate frosting.
I’d planned to make individual Boston cream pies, and in my birthday dinner dream, I would emerge from the kitchen looking like Donna Reed, carrying rounds of moist, airy sponge cake, layered with silky pastry cream and topped with glossy chocolate ganache.
By noon on Saturday, I had to face the fact that my Donna Reed fantasy was not to be realized that day. I was already behind schedule on the cooking and cleaning, when my very first attempt at making pastry cream ended with a gloopy bowl of disaster Play Doh. D’oh!
Dessert was ruined. I called Mom, had a bit of a temper tantrum, and asked her to drop everything and run to the store for a can of chocolate frosting to top the back-up boxed cake mix in the pantry. And because my mom rules, she humored me and my ridiculous meltdown, and she saved dessert.
I really think this time (yes, THIS TIME) I have learned my lesson about trying new recipes on special occasions. The truth is, I hate testing recipes, because I don’t want to have to make the same recipe twice. I’m always eager to try new recipes, so going back to old ones, even to make corrections, seems a terrible bore.
But I can change. And I’m starting with this recipe for spicy herbed green rice. I made it last summer for Mom and Handsome Greg to accompany a pineapple braised pork roast, and it’s so good, and so cheap, and so simple, that I promise to make it, as is, again and again!
Or maybe next time I’ll change it up and add roasted poblano peppers…
Continue reading for the Green Rice recipe
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 green onions, sliced, white parts and green tops separated
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- Salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup minced cilantro
- ¼ cup minced parsley
- Heat the olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté the white parts of the green onions with the jalapenos for 5 minutes; do not brown.
- Stir in the rice, salt, pepper, broth, and water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.
- Fluff with a fork and stir in cilantro, parsley and tops of green onions.
Linked to: It’s a Keeper, Food Trip Friday, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Tidy Mom, Jennifer Cooks, Be Different, Act Normal, Crumbs and Chaos, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Mrs. Happy Homemaker, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, A Southern Fairytale, Flour Me with Love, Things that make you say Mmm, Chef in Training, Nap Time Creations, Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free, 2 Maids a Milking, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, It’s a Blog Party, 33 Shades of Green, Lil’ Luna, King’s Court IV, Southern Product Queen, Bizzy Bakes, Made Famous By, This Chick Cooks, Creations by Kara, Junk in Their Trunk, Lady behind the Curtain, Newlyweds, A Little Nosh, Feeding Four, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, Hear the Bells, The Willing Cook, The Country Cook, My Sweet and Savory, Mrs. Fox’s Sweets, Mom’s Crazy Cooking, Gooseberry Patch
Lovely recipe! I can smell the flavor of olive oil, jalapenos and herbs combined… YUM! Indeed, something to do over and over again
The green rice looks delish!And the herbs,I love the aroma of the herbs into my kitchen^_^
http://ties-bonding.blogspot.com/2012/02/our-noche-buena.html
Happy FTF!
Green rice is certainly something new to try! Stopping by from Food Trip Friday!
We’re trying it with the addition of corn and black olives, from the memory of a rice dish I had once that was made by a woman from Peru.
That sounds delicious! Great idea.
I am inviting you come and be part of my blog hop:
http://juliejewels1.blogspot.com/2012/02/show-your-stuff-9.html
Great recipe! I have a green rice recipe that I love that’s similar. This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Yum! I love all rice dishes and am always looking for new ways to serve it. I’d love for you to share this recipe at my allergy-free blog hop on Wednesdays. I host with 4 other bloggers. You can find it at willingcook.com tomorrow. I’m pinning this recipe. Thanks!
Oh wow…another fabulous recipe!! Can’t wait to pin this one!
That looks so good, but… I’m not a big fan of cilantro. I may try adding more parsley and leaving it out.
I understand. Cilantro is very controversial. It’s the black licorice of herbs.
Too bad I’m not much of a cook, for I would have tried your recipe.
Btw, here in Bohol they have red rice … real red-colored rice like brown and white rice.
Cheers!
can’t wait to try these!
Your Green Rice looks delicious. Good for you that Mom saved the day, Mom’s are like that. Hope you have a fabulous week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
This looks great! I would have to leave out the peppers because i am a wimp! Thanks for sharing at allergy-free wednesdays! Hope to see you again next week!
If you’re nervous about the jalapenos, try subbing in poblano peppers. The flavor is similar, but they’re much milder.
Oooo, I LOVE cilantro! This sounds DIVINE! Thanks for sharing with Weekend Potluck!
Tonya from 4 little Fergusons