Mexican Green Rice

  Tonight I was making soft tacos for dinner and wanted a beans and rice side dish like you might find at your local mexican establishment. I remember several years ago that my mom had made green rice and Dave ate some of the leftovers and RAVED about how delicious it was. So I decided I would be super-wife and make some green rice to go with our tacos and refried beans.

adapted from: Bobby Flay
(my changes are in red and italicized)

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth or water (2 cups is better, and use chicken broth!)
• 2 roasted poblano peppers, stems, seeds and skin removed (see below on how to roast. I would cut this to one, since ours was REALLY spicy)
• 1 roasted jalapeno pepper, stem, seeds and skin removed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, divided
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 Spanish onion, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups long-grain rice
• juice of 1 lime

Directions

Combine the broth and chiles in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and then partially cover and simmer gently over medium to medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Pour the chile mixture into a blender, add 1/4 cup cilantro and process to a smooth puree. Season with salt and keep warm.

Wipe the pan clean, add the oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute. Add the warm broth mixture, stir, and season with salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let sit for 5 minutes, covered. Fluff with a fork, transfer to a bowl, and stir in remaining cilantro, and squeeze the lime juice all over, it will really make it pop. Make sure you taste for salt and add more if your palate likes more. I probably added a total of 1/2 tsp. salt.

How to roast peppers.

If you have a gas stove, then it's easy peasy. Turn on a burner and set your clean peppers right on the flame. Turn every once and a while, you want the skin to be black. If you DON'T have a gas stove (me), then turn on your broiler to high and place your peppers right on the rack in the oven. Turn them so all sides get nice and black. Once they are looking rather burned, place all peppers in a glass bowl and cover tightly with saran wrap. They will then steam themselves (since they are hot), and 15-ish minutes later the black skins will peel right off and you will have nicely roasted peppers!!

Reviews: YUM! Our rice really was pretty spicy - and we enjoy spicy food - so I really think that 1 poblano would do it. You need to keep the jalapeno since it's a different flavor of pepper and as long as you take all the seeds out, they aren't too bad. The flavor was REALLY nice and we put the rice inside the tacos as well as using it as a side dish. This is a keeper for my mexican food loving husband!

Cooking Magazine Test Run

 
I have way too many cooking magazines. I am trying to cut down and eliminate the excess. SO, I am FINALLY trying all the recipes I wanted to in each magazine and keeping the good ones and tossing the magazine when i'm done.

Magazine #1 - Cooking Light April 2006
Recipe: Chipotle Orange Chicken Cutlets

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts. Pound them flat in between 2 pieces of saran wrap.

Mix in a plate:
1/3 cup flour
2 tsp. cumin

Pour in a bowl:
1/4 C orange juice concentrate.

Coat the bottom of a hot skillet with veggie oil. salt the chicken and then dip in the bowl of OJ, and dredge in the flour mixture, and throw in the pan until nice and brown. Since brown food tastes good.

After the chicken is cooked, take out of the pan and add to the pan 3/4 C OJ concentrate, 1/2 C water, and 2 chipotle chilies in adobo, diced. Boil and let simmer for a couple of minutes. (You can add some more water to thin it out if you want.)

Add the chicken back to the pan to warm through. Serve over brown rice mixed with 1/3 C. chopped cilantro.

Dave would not stop talking about the sauce. He mentioned it like 12 times or something. And insisted that it was the best thing in the house to take for lunch tomorrow. (over my red beans and rice, even!)

This one is a KEEPER.