From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Did you know my husband's sainted mother made him Spanish rice all the time? He didn't even have to ask. That's what I'm told, and how can you question the veracity of a man whose mother was a saint. While I make him Spanish rice from time to time, it's usually for lunch when we're at the lake and I'm working in a kitchen with a two burner stove and zero counter space. Simplicity and ease of preparation reign supreme in the lake kitchen, and this is a perfect meal to prepare when we are there. I rarely make it when we are at home because it doesn't seem quite up to standard. At his request, I lowered my standards and made the rice for his Father's Day lunch. I received the ultimate compliment. He thought it was better than his mother's. While breakfast stretched my kitchen skills, our lunch of Spanish rice was embarrassingly simple to make. Those of you who were children in the 40's and 50's are probably overly familiar with this dish. Most of us ate a lot of it and tend to associate it with leaner times and rationing. We forget how delicious it was and how easy it was to prepare. The recipe I use for the "better than my mom's" rice is a riff of the one that appears on the back of a Heinz Ketchup bottle. It is ridiculously easy to prepare and those of you who like casseroles that are ever so slightly sweet, will enjoy this trip down memory lane. Here is how the rice is made.
Skillet Spanish Rice...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Heinz Ketchup
Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 can (15-oz.) stewed tomatoes
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
1) Cook ground beef and onions in a large skillet until beef is browned and onions are tender.
2) Add tomatoes, broth, rice, ketchup, bell pepper, salt and pepper and stir until combined. Bring to boil, cover skillet and simmer, stirring once, for 20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve from skillet. Yield: 4 servings.
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1 comment :
Amazingly easy and it looks so delicious! So that is different though that Mexican rice, although I've had many different aunts prepare rice many different ways. My sainted mother does a plain tomato sauce with garlic and salt and pepper. She browns the rice first. I have an aunt that adds green beans and corn, and one that adds real onion and tomato. I guess they all learned to make a rice dish that would feed an army using simple everyday items that they could grow in their gardens. Definitely cooks who were used to lean times. Glad your husband enjoyed it, I'm sure I would have too.
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