Mexican rice is nice

Mary, of One Perfect Bite, posted Mexican rice recently. I’ve been trying to slot room for it ever since. Finally, yesterday afternoon, I got my mojo together and made it. There are a few little tweaks due to stuff I had around, but essentially it’s her recipe. Didn’t take too long for the mise en place, then onto the stove with it, off to cocktails and some pre-dinner TV.

This is an extremely fine recipe. I recommend it to one and all. Naturally it could be made without chorizo and thus be vegetarian. There is a little bit of work involved. However, I just got all the chopping done early in the afternoon, assembled everything on the kitchen counter and went to town. The cooking time of 20 minutes after the pot has come up to a boil was spot on.

A word about the side dish: it's slow-cooked green beans from the garden. I'll sum that up after the rice.

Mexican rice is nice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup chorizo, finely chopped
½ cup onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 dried red chiles, seeds removed
2 poblano peppers (skin and seeds removed)
1 cup long grain white rice
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
½ tsp salt
pinch of black pepper
¼ tsp turmeric
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 scallions, green and white parts chopped

Combine the dried chiles with some of the broth and puree with an immersion blender. Or, if you don’t have one, just soak the chiles for a while and mince with a sharp knife.

Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium heat (4 on my 1-10 dial). Add chorizo. Saute until cooked through (unless using fully cooked chorizo, in which case just cook 1 minute). Add onion, green pepper, garlic, chiles, poblanos. Cook 3-4 minutes until onion and green pepper are softened. Add rice and tomato and stir to coat. Add broth and water, salt, pepper, turmeric and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until rice is tender and all liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes. Add cilantro and scallion and fluff with a fork. Serve.

Slow-cooked green beans

Saute the beans in some butter and olive oil for 5 minutes, tossing frequently. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Add some veggie juice (or V-8 or tomato juice). Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook very slowly for an hour, tossing the beans every 10 minutes or so.