The Right Rice

16/05 THE RIGHT RICE

"...when in doubt, always follow your nose."

 

When your eyes are fixed on the future and your heart is set far from you its easy to get lost. I'm finding that the more I try to focus the harder it is to see, and easier the distractions. When in doubt, always follow your nose. Trust your instincts. Those primal fridge foraging instincts that turn measly leftovers into a considered meal. This recipe is a return to form, or lack thereof.

The distractions of trying to please everyone and make culinary perfection  is consuming and often hindering. Stop showing off precious. There is a mix of flavors here that I trust and like, and have been combined without any flair. And in the end made something I didn't expect and honestly would set out to make again. Don't fuss or panic, all you have to do is decide what to do with the ingredients given to you. All of a sudden "Oh, it's that way!" and there's the road again... going on and on.

 

Ingredients (all approximate) - To be honest the quantities are up to you

2 Cups Rice (cooked, cold)
2 Lemons
50g Goats Cheese
2 tsp Nigella Seeds
2 Large Mushrooms
1/2 Cup Walnuts
1/2 White Onion
1 Cup Raisins
Vinegar
Salt + Pepper
Olive Oil

 

What I did - 

There is less method here, and more improvisation. Just the way kitchen adventures should be, the trick is to find combinations that work and can be thrown together when there is nothing else alive in the fridge.

First start by boiling the kettle - make yourself a strong tea - and soak the raisins to re-plump (with a splash of vinegar to kick their sweetness back). In a large mixing bowl break up the rice so that there are no cold clumps. Slice the mushrooms into feathery thin slices. The onion into similar fragments. Bash the walnuts into fork-able chunks. and toss through the rice. Sprinkle the nigella seeds and crumble the goats cheese before mixing through again.

Zest the lemon into fluorescent strands over the bowl then squeeze out the juice pips and all (unless you are pedantic about this, or generously making for company). Douse in a slick of olive oil and rain down a dust storm of pepper. Finally strain the raisins and squeeze out the excess water, then add to the bowl before the penultimate tumble. Mix it all together and only if you feel there isn't enough from the goats cheese - add some salt.

Transfer to a nicer bowl and eat directly. With company just give them another fork and share the bowl. Sometimes laziness is agreeable - but this should give you some energy to get back on the horse.

JG