Tag Archives: rice

Arroz a la Cubana (Warning: not a real recipe)

This is my go-to meal. When I haven’t planned anything, haven’t had time to grocery shop, or my husband is out and for some reason I’m eating alone, this is what I make. We ate it a lot in Spain growing up. And it’s not a real recipe. Which is exactly what makes it so fast and easy! Here goes:

Ingredients

(Serves 1, easy to multiply)

Cooked white rice

1 generous dollop of spaghetti sauce, heated up

2 fried eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Assemble into a bowl like this: rice. Heated spaghetti sauce. Eggs. Salt and pepper. If your eggs are overeasy, you can break the yolks and mix together. Eat! You’ll never go back. Or else, you’ll be revolted and never make it again. Either way, the word “never” will figure prominently in your response.

You could make a beautiful stack, using a ramekin to mold the rice into a cup shape on the plate and artfully drizzling the spaghetti sauce in a criss-cross pattern, with the egg balanced on top like a glowing yellow dome in the afternoon sunlight.

But as for me . . . I will continue to simply pile it into the bowl with no regard for aesthetics. Honestly–I think it actually tastes better this way. Some day I will do a blind taste test and prove it to the world.

I’ve wondered for years if I only like this because I grew up with it … or if I like it because it’s actually good. I’d also like to point out that there is probably nothing Cuban about this dish. It’s “Cuban” Rice just as French Toast is “French”, i.e., not at all.

For those of you who like to fancify things, you can make your own tomato sauce and add some chopped chives on top for color. Or chiffonade some basil or something.

Next week I will be posting a more real recipe. But in the meantime, have a great 4th of July weekend!

 

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Mush

This dish . . . well, I can’t tell you exactly how it came about, but it’s been evolving during our 5 years of marriage into the glorious thing it is today. It could be called “simple stovetop ratatouille” for those of you who might feel guilty serving something called “mush” to your unsuspecting families. This recipe serves 2 very hungry adults—but it’s easy to multiply the quantities.

Ingredients

(2 servings)

1 TBS butter

1 TBS olive oil

2-3 medium zucchini, chopped into cubes

1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

6-10 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 TBS olive oil/butter to fry the eggs

4 eggs

Serve with steamed white rice

Optional: blue cheese crumbles

First, put your rice on—I use my trusty rice cooker. Dice your zucchini, garlic, and tomatoes. Don’t fear the garlic—I like this dish as garlicky as I can get it.

Smash that garlic!

I used to use the flat of my knife to crush the garlic cloves, which almost cost me a severed hand once. Then, I read The Pioneer Woman, and she set me straight. Smash the cloves violently with a can! The papery skins come right off:

 

Heat the olive oil and butter together in a skillet. Once the butter has melted, add your zucchini.

Cook on high for 6-7 minutes, until the zucchini pieces are starting to get golden.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add your garlic and halved tomatoes, and lower the heat to medium.

Let it cook away for a while, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until it becomes mushy and delicious (but not too liquidy).

Still too liquidy

When you drag the spatula across the pan, it should leave a space instead of immediately filling with liquid.

The "dragging the spatula" test

When the mush is about done, heat some butter or olive oil in another non-stick skillet and add your eggs. We like to do 2 per person, overeasy. If you’re averse to dirtying another pan (as I sometimes am) you can push the veggies to the side of the mush pan, add your butter/oil to the center, and cook your eggs in the center of the mush.

Serve up individual bowls: start with a nice pile of rice, add a layer of veggies, and slap the eggs on top. If you like your food to look pretty, construct a little arrangement like this:

Sans eggs ...

But if you’re like me, that neat little pile will soon become this (don’t be frightened):

.. and with eggs in a mushily delightful pile!

Have a bite, and you'll be enslaved to mush for the rest of your natural days

If you’re a blue cheese addict like I am, some crumbles on top are never amiss.

I swoon over this bowl of delights every time. It’s so good that it’s what I requested my husband to make for my birthday dinner this year. Just don’t skimp on the garlic! If you do, disappointment and despair will pursue you to the end of your days. (not really) (then again, who can fathom the consequences of garlic-skimping?)

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