Braised Anatomy

Remember playing with roly polies when you were younger?

Are you now feeling nostalgic and yet, somehow, repulsed?

I wish I could rename these roly poly potatoes.  Or armadillo potatoes.  They’re beautiful. Unfortunately, both times I’ve made these they’ve come out imperfect.  The ends and loose pieces are amazing, sort of like crispy potato chips with a creamy center.  But the middles either remain partially raw or become dry from not enough fat; I haven’t decided.

But anyway.  The aesthetics can’t be beat, and people do seem to get it right, so hopefully you will too.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs new potatoes
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper
• za’atar spice (available at the West Side Market) or chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Place a potato in a dinner spoon, and use a sharp knife to carefully cut many thin slits in the potato, leaving a bit on the bottom uncut so that the wedges stay together.  Repeat for all of the potatoes, then toss with the butter and olive oil.  Add salt and pepper, and let the potatoes rest for 10 minutes or so, tossing occasionally to try to coat the insides of the wedges.  Bake on a tin foil-lined baking sheet for at least 45 minutes.  You could see if pushing it to an hour will cook them all the way through.  I also tossed in a few cloves of garlic in the oil and into the oven.  Garnish with the za’atar if you’ve got it, or more pepper, or grated parmesan.

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Yummm….Rice….scratch that…BROWN rice….

Now I realize that brown rice doesn’t exactly have the best reputation. I think I can safely say that most people prefer to eat white rice over brown rice. Some people argue that they don’t like the texture of brown rice, they don’t like the flavor, or they don’t actually know how to cook it. Well we’re gonna try to put all of these concerns to rest with this simple and delicious recipe.

But first, let’s talk a little about WHY you should be eating brown rice. According to my number one reference website – wikipedia (joking…kinda…), “Brown rice and white rice have similar amounts of calories, carbohydrates, and protein. The main differences between the two forms of rice lie in processing and nutritional content.” When the white rice is processed, you lose your B vitamins, iron, magnesium, etc.. (think back to block 3…you all remember how important B vitamins are). Recent studies have also shown that eating brown rice reduces your risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. With all of these great reasons to eat brown rice, I think you should all go out and buy some rice now…just saying… Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to cook it.

What you need:

• 3 cups of brown rice
• 4 tbs of olive oil
• 2 vidalia onions (diced)
• 1 1/2 cups of veggie broth (I use bouillon cubes)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh shelled edamame
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

What you need to do:

1. Boil a large pot of water (with salt), add the brown rice and let it sit for 10 minutes (do NOT stir the rice) – this is called precooking the brown rice.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, and when it’s hot, add the onions.
3. Cooked down the onions for about 5 minutes
4. Add the precooked rice to the onions and oil (the rice should not be all the way cooked through).
5. Mix the rice and onions until the rice is evenly coated with the oil.
6. Lightly toast the rice for about 5 minutes.
7. Add the vegetable broth.
8. Cover and let cook until the broth is totally absorbed (takes 10-15 minutes). Stir every now and then so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
9. Add salt to taste (2 pinches of salt or so).
10. Remove from heat and add the edamame.
11. You can add the basil and mint now if you want, but the herbs will become a weird brown color. The taste doesn’t change, but it doesn’t look quite as pretty. Other option is to let the rice cool down then add the herbs.
12. Top with a little fresh brown pepper.
13. Enjoy!

Photos taken by Hannah Zhou (http://hannahsphotomenagerie.shutterfly.com/)

p.s. A 20 lb bag of brown rice is only $17.99 at Tink Holl!

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