Hi everyone! I’ve had a few pregnant people describe to me their aversion to meat, even in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters when I become more concerned about their appetite. I also have quite a few vegetarians (including myself) who run out of ideas for yummy, easy plant protein rich eats. Here is a recipe that is in heavy rotation in our household. For those of you who might not know, I lived in Spain for 6 years. This is a dish I learned there, and the way of cooking rice is central to many Spanish dishes, including paella.
Ingredients:
Butternut squash
Red/ orange/ yellow pepper
Onion
Canned tomato (I usually use the peeled whole tomato that I break up when I add it, but I used what I had on hand which is pictured here)
Cooked garbanzo beans
Extra virgin olive oil
Short grain rice like Arborio or Calrose
Salt to taste
Lemon and mayonnaise to garnish according to taste
Start by cutting the butternut squash into uniform thin slices. I use about ⅓ of the squash. Add more olive oil than you think is respectable to a large round frying pan, and when it is heated but not smoking, add the slices of squash and stir it around, coating them and then letting them sauté in the oil.
Begin cutting your next vegetable. In general you start with the longer to cook vegetables and end with the ones that cook more quickly, so the red pepper can go next. I used one whole pepper. When the butternut squash as started to soften, push it to the edges of the pan and put the pepper into the pool of hot oil in the center. Then start dicing your onion. I use half an onion here.
When the pepper is starting to soften and fry, mix it in with the butternut squash, push that all to the edges, and add the onion to the hot oil in the center. Let that cook and soften, and then integrate with the other veggies, push to the edges, and add the can of garbanzo beans. You can salt the veggies as you go along. Once the garbanzo beans are warmed and getting slightly toasted, integrate them and make room for the tomatoes. Let the tomatoes cook down in the oil enough that they start to get the rich caramelized flavor. At this point you can add the rice. I used one cup of rice that will become 2 cups of rice once cooked. You can make a well for the rice, which I forgot to do, but basically you add the uncooked rice and let it get a bit sauteed in the oil so that it is soaking up the flavors of the dish. After about 5 minutes, you can add 2x the water as the rice that you put in, plus a little bit more. So I added 2 cups of water plus a smidge. Add salt for the amount of rice and water you added. Mix it all together until it is evenly combined, bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down to a very low simmer. Do NOT move the rice again. You may need to move the pan on the burner if it is bubbling unevenly (in other words your pan is bigger than the flame) so that all the parts get heat. Slowly, the rice will grow. You can take a fork to pick out a couple of grains to test for doneness. If the ones on top are still a bit dry and the ones in the center well cooked, you can add a lid and keep the heat very low to let the steam cook the grains on top. This is considered a less skillful way to do it, but I do it all the time and won’t tell anyone. If the ones on top are mostly done, you can just turn off the heat and cover with a lid (or newspaper, as I commonly saw done).
Push the already softened to the edges of the pan to make a well of hot oil for each new ingredient.
This technique of toasting the rice in oil and maybe other ingredients, adding 2x plus a bit of liquid, stirring to mix and then not touching again, bringing to a simmer and then turning down the heat is the technique that is common to many Spanish rice dishes. As you can see, it is quite versatile, and you can sub the vegetables and legumes of your choice.
Serve with lemon to squeeze on top, and a dollop of mayonnaise on the side. You can graze each forkful by the dollop of mayonnaise on the way to your mouth and enjoy. Our 6 year old is a huge fan of this dish, so it is kid tested and proven.
