Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pico de Gallo Pilaf


 
When I bought the ingredients for the Pico de Gallo I made over the weekend, I ended up purchasing too many limes and jalapenos. Plus since the recipe only called for half of an onion, I still had the other half so I decided to make another batch of Pico de Gallo since all I really needed was more tomatoes. The idea was to make chicken quesadillas for dinner buuuuut whoopsie! I checked the fridge this morning and only had three small flour tortillas left which I knew might not be enough for dinner and definitely wouldn't be enough to use up the Pico de Gallo batch I'd just made.

 
I browsed online until I came across this. With there being two RR references in recent blogs you might think I'm an uber fan but I'm not. It's just a coincidence. I used to enjoy watching that show of hers where she went around and ate with a budget of $40 or so dollars for the entire day. Not too long ago I came across her 30 min meals show and noticed that she just doesn't seem HAPPY. Take a moment and check out her show. Maybe record an episode so you get a chance to do this. When you do, tell me how often she genuinely smiles. Or even fake smiles enough for you to be convinced it might be real. It's so rare it's kind of odd and sad even. She gives this friendly, peppy presentation but if you mute the television and just watch her I doubt you'd think to yourself "she's happy".

 
Ok, enough about Mrs RR, we got some Pico de Gallo to use up! This recipe only calls for a few ingredients and is a wonderfully unique way to use Pico de Gallo.

 

 
Pico de Gallo is really super simple to make. I chopped and threw everything together in the morning and still  made it to work at my regular time. I can't lie though, I didn't leisurely take my time getting ready that morning, but seriously very fast!

 
The first thing I did was heat up 1 tablespoon of Goya olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. I added 1/2 cup of orzo pasta to the heated oil. I have a tendency to get impatient so I simultaneously prepped the chicken thighs that I was making to accompany the pilaf so I avoided going stir crazy (double entendre!). I continuously stirred the orzo pasta until it was a nice golden brown.

 

 
Once the pasta was nicely toasted, I added the cup of rice and two cups of chicken broth. I actually didn't have any broth on hand so I used a chicken cube. I just added it to the water and zapped it in the microwave for about two minutes which got the water hot enough for the chicken cube to dissolve. I brought the pasta rice mixture to a boil, then covered, reduced heat to low and simmered for 17 minutes. I also realized "Hey! This is like making Rice-A-Roni but probably WAY better!" so yeah, don't be surprised if there's a future post for Cheesy Broccoli Rice because that one and the Four Cheese one happen to be mine and Skywalker's favorite ones.

 

 
After the rice pilaf was cooked, I fluffed the rice and added the Pico de Gallo. Now really I should have measured the Pico de Gallo so I could tell you "add X amount of Pico de Gallo" but I didn't. If I had to guess I'd say about 2 cups?? Of course though, you can add as much or as little Pico as you'd like. Also, my Pico de Gallo was a tad salty (I added almost a full tablespoon of salt to the second batch of Pico de Gallo even though it apparently was a lesser amount) so I made sure the pilaf remained on the blander side so once I combined the two, the saltiness would balance out.

 

 

 
This recipe was SO GOOD!!! I had visions of serving this with tequila lime chicken or something. I'll bet it would be SUPER tasty in a burrito too! Skygirl wasn't a huge fan (I guess if it doesn't accompany the fatty goodness of carnitas she's less of a fan) but it was just the onions she avoided as she happily scarfed down all the other pilaf parts.

 
Ingredients:
(Adapted from Pico de Gallo Pilaf)

 
1 cup long grain rice
1/2 cup orzo
2 cups of chicken broth
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups of Pico de Gallo

Directions:

  1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add the orzo pasta and toast until deep golden brown, stirring continuously.
  3. Stir in rice and broth, bringing to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for about 17 minutes.
  5. Once the rice is cooked, stir to fluff and mix in about 2 cups of the Pico de Gallo.  
  6. Salt to taste.

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