Faux Rice-a-roni

My kids are major fans of the Rice-a-roni. You know that marvy rice and pasta concoction from the 1960's that makes its ways to many a table every night? Its actually a pretty decent fast side for a lot of grilled meats, something I do a lot of around here. The only gripe I have is that its overloaded with salt and there isn't much you can do to about it.  Except make your own.

Its a pretty simple blend of herbs and dried chicken stock that you toss in with the pasta and rice after they are browned. An easy process to duplicate.  And I did.

Of course I figured as long as I'm gonna do it up faux I'll also make in the microwave to take one pot off the stove that I have to worry about.  This actually works out quite well in the microwave and is stupid easy once you program your M.O. to remember the settings.  Its clearly a set and forget.

I used the Better than Bouillon brand chicken base for my recipe as I was out of chicken broth.  You can simply use 2 cups chicken broth if you have it on hand.  I do keep this bouillon around as it has better flavor than the cubed stuff and WAY less sodium.  A big plus especially if you are on a low sodium diet for health reasons.  Its also a good way to add flavor to dishes where you don't want to add a lot of liquid and still get a big flavor boost with that slow cooked all day flavor.

Faux Rice-a-roni

• 1/2 c fideo noodles
• 1/2 c raw white rice
• 2 T butter
• 2 c water
• 2 t Better than Bouillon chicken broth
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• 1 T dried parsley

In microwave safe covered dish add pasta and rice.  Top with butter.  Microwave for 1 minute.  Stir to coat rice and pasta with butter.  Microwave on high 1 minute longer.  Toss and repeat until pasta is a deep golden brown.  It takes about 3 minutes total in my 1250 watt MO.

Dissolve Better than Bouillon in water.  Add garlic salt and parsley to rice and toss.  Add broth and stir. 

Cover the dish.  Microwave 5 minutes on high power. Continue covered and microwave 20 minutes on 50% power.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Fluff with fork and serve.

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.