Smashed outta the park...Spanish Rice and Noodles

Geez, if I knew it was going to be this good I'd have done it a while back. Seriously, rarely do you get a new recipe that everyone raves over on the first try. But this is one.

I used a spanish noodle called "fiedo" and it is similar to 1 inch long pieces of angel hair pasta. Stuff is good and I had bought it to make chicken noodle soup, but still have half a package left. What to do, what to do...experimenting came to mind. If you can't find fideo on your supermarket shelf you could just bust up some angel hair pasta into 1 inch long pieces and move forward with the recipe.

The end result is something not unlike that boxed rice-a-roni (contrary to the ad jingle you can't get it in San Francisco) Spanish Rice. Only better, much moister and tastier.

Finally to make it even easier I used a microwave oven to cook the stuff.

Spanish Rice and Noodles

• 3/4 c rice
• 1/4 cup fideo noodles
• 1/4 c diced onion
• 1 14 oz can chicken broth
• 1/2 c salsa (I used pace picante)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T butter

In a saute pan heat olive oil and butter over medium high heat. Add rice, fideo and onion. Cook until the fideo is deep golden brown and onion is translucent. Stir often so you don't burn the fideo and onion. Add to microwave safe baking dish, stir in salsa. Cover with a microwave safe lid or plastic wrap. Microwave 5 minutes on high, reduce power to 50% and cook 15 minutes longer.