Day #26 Gift > Back to Basics: Thirteen Minute Fish & Rice

Thanks to everyone who emailed to tell me about their favourite holiday foods. For Suzi, it’s cinnamon rolls, for Beth it’s gingerbread houses, for Kristina it’s homemade tamales.  I couldn’t have arranged for a better range of answers, could I?  Bruce also emailed that he liked creamed peas and carrots (and he sent along a recipe I’m going to try).  Amber likes homemade fudge, and Lauri’s got a thing for shrimp.

My favourite holiday food is stuffing.  I only make it once a year, for Christmas dinner, and it’s an un-healthy mixture of butter, soft bread, onions, celery, mushrooms and the killer ingredient — ground savoury (it’s like sage, or poultry seasoning). I bake it in a pan with a light lid made out of tinfoil, so that it partly steams and partly gets crunchy corners.  Best mixed into chicken salad sandwiches the next day, with cranberries and mayo.

Now.  Back to the gifts. Don’t forget to post your comments below.

Today’s gift:

In keeping with my 29 days of gifts, today’s gift is a simple trick for a healthy dinner for Fish and Rice.

In January I’m launching a Back-to-Basics class that covers all those things we (maybe) learned in Home Economics in high school, but have since forgotten…

And one of those topics is timing — like how to get the meal on the table so that it’s all ready at the same time — without running around with your head flying off from stress.

So tonight I’m going to share with you my favourite “perfectly timed” 13 minute dinner.

And I’ll give you the trick right up front:  basmati rice cooked on the stovetop and a filet of fish baked in the oven both take exactly 13 minutes to cook.  Add in a bit of time for soaking the rice, and you’ve got dinner in 25 minutes.

Thirteen Minute Fish & Rice
Serves 4, easily doubled or reduced

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup basmati rice (125 mL)
3/4 cup chicken broth (or water) (190 mL)
4 filets of fish
orange marmalade
clove of garlic
grainy mustard
green veggie

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Soak 1/2 cup basmati rice in cool water. Not all rice needs to soak first, basmati does.  Let it soak 5-10 minutes, and up to 25 minutes if you’ve got extra time, but it’s not required.

Drain rice. Plop drained rice into a small pot with a tight fitting lid. Using the same measuring cup you used to measure the rice, add 1.5 measures of chicken broth, veggie broth, or water to the rice in the pot.  If you used 1/2 cup of rice, then you’ll need 3/4 cup of liquid.

Do not start cooking the rice yet.

Line a pan with tinfoil, and place your fish filets on the foil, skin side down. (I love trout or salmon, but other dense white fish would work too).

Mix together a couple tablespoons of orange marmalade with a half clove of garlic and a teaspoon of grainy mustard.  Smear over the fish.

Put the rice on high heat and bring it to a hard boil with the lid off.  AS SOON AS it starts to boil hard, immediately reduce the heat to minimum, and put the top on the pot. Stick the fish in the oven.

Set your timer for 13 minutes.

That’s it

You can add in another pot for a veggie too, like broccoli or brussels sprouts or green beens. Cook them in a 1/2 inch of water, bring to a boil at the same time as the rice, also reduce to minimum and put the lid on. Cook for the same 13 minutes.  If you want asparagus, it cooks faster so start it later, maybe half-way through.

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More to come in January’s Back to Basics course including quiche, chicken broth from scratch, how to store lettuce, and apple crisp with cinnamon ice cream.  If you’d like to be on the list to get more information, you can sign up here > http://www.OneRoastVegetable.com/backtobasics.htm

All best,
Shelley