This dish is real easy to make and doesn't take a whole lot of time, but it is far superior to the Spanish rice you find in a box or pouch. Taking a nod from a few TV cooking shows, I was inspired by their talk of paella. Now I don't have a paella pan, I cook just about everything in a flat-bottomed wok, but I liked the idea of adding a whole bunch of ingredients to a rice dish to make it a complete meal in a single dish, just like a real paella.
We'll start by chopping up a white onion. White onions have a more subtle flavor, but regular onions would be fine I'm sure, vidalia, or even red onions might be interesting. Throw the chopped onion in the pan to fry with some pork lard on high heat. Don't be scared of lard, it is actually healthier than many cooking oils out there.
Cube a pound or more of ham, add to pan for some sizzle action. I had some leftover from a small store-bought ham of fair quality, and used up what I had here. Now ham is the traditional meat in a Spanish rice dish, but I've made this dish before using non-cured pork, chicken, ground beef, spam, and even Nathan's hotdogs. I prefer the ham, and the hotdogs really work good too, but go with what you have, or even a combo of meats if you have little bits of this and that hanging out in the fridge. Turkey ham would work too.
Next we will slice 3 or 4 carrots into thin rounds. The rounds are a good bite size, but we don't want them too thick or they won't cook fast enough and be too crunchy in the final product. Not too much of a big deal, but my teeth are a little sensitive. Don't go paper thin either though, don't want them turning to mush. Maybe as thick as a few nickels stuck together, quarter inch I guess, but don't worry too much about precision. Just want to get more than a few pieces out of each stick so it distributes nicely in the final dish.
Chop up two stalks of celery and add them to the pan with along with the carrots to play with the ham and onion that should be starting to brown a little now.
Chop a half pepper each of red and green. Add to pan last since they cook the quickest. If your peppers are small, go ahead and use the whole peppers. I kept the remaining halves of two large peppers aside for another dish I'm planning tomorrow. The peppers are really the only "traditional" veggie in a basic Spanish rice, but again, work with what you have. You can add just about anything really, though I do recommend you add at least some green and red peppers. On other occasions I have added fresh chopped green beans, corn could lend itself to a more Mexican version, go with what you like.
Add some olive oil and get it all up to temperature, stirring occasionally while the smells start blending together nicely. The mix should begin to soften a bit, but you don't want it fully cooked yet.
We'll start by chopping up a white onion. White onions have a more subtle flavor, but regular onions would be fine I'm sure, vidalia, or even red onions might be interesting. Throw the chopped onion in the pan to fry with some pork lard on high heat. Don't be scared of lard, it is actually healthier than many cooking oils out there.
Cube a pound or more of ham, add to pan for some sizzle action. I had some leftover from a small store-bought ham of fair quality, and used up what I had here. Now ham is the traditional meat in a Spanish rice dish, but I've made this dish before using non-cured pork, chicken, ground beef, spam, and even Nathan's hotdogs. I prefer the ham, and the hotdogs really work good too, but go with what you have, or even a combo of meats if you have little bits of this and that hanging out in the fridge. Turkey ham would work too.
Next we will slice 3 or 4 carrots into thin rounds. The rounds are a good bite size, but we don't want them too thick or they won't cook fast enough and be too crunchy in the final product. Not too much of a big deal, but my teeth are a little sensitive. Don't go paper thin either though, don't want them turning to mush. Maybe as thick as a few nickels stuck together, quarter inch I guess, but don't worry too much about precision. Just want to get more than a few pieces out of each stick so it distributes nicely in the final dish.
Chop up two stalks of celery and add them to the pan with along with the carrots to play with the ham and onion that should be starting to brown a little now.
Chop a half pepper each of red and green. Add to pan last since they cook the quickest. If your peppers are small, go ahead and use the whole peppers. I kept the remaining halves of two large peppers aside for another dish I'm planning tomorrow. The peppers are really the only "traditional" veggie in a basic Spanish rice, but again, work with what you have. You can add just about anything really, though I do recommend you add at least some green and red peppers. On other occasions I have added fresh chopped green beans, corn could lend itself to a more Mexican version, go with what you like.
Add some olive oil and get it all up to temperature, stirring occasionally while the smells start blending together nicely. The mix should begin to soften a bit, but you don't want it fully cooked yet.
Add a heaping tablespoon of chopped or minced garlic then season generously with sazon completa, or your own favorite Spanish-inspired spice blend. Your own spice blend should be well salted. Black pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, and dried citrus are some ingredients of the sazon completa. Some nice smoked paprika might work too, I might have to try that next time. Some traditional paella use saffron.
Add water to your mixture, at a ratio of 3 to 1 for most rice. My white rice called for 2 to 1, but I increased the ratio because of all the other ingredients in the pan. You will need more water than is called for in the package directions because of that. In this recipe I used 3 cups of rice and 9 cups of water. At this point I also added some frozen green peas as well when the water came up to a boil. Once you have a rolling boil, add your rice, cover, and lower heat. Give it a stir after a half minute or a minute to keep the rice loose from the bottom of the pan.
Try not to keep peeking too much, it should stay covered as much as possible but after the rice is about half cooked, add a few real big squirts of ketchup. Probably about a cup and a half, maybe two cups. Most recipes just call for tomato sauce or tomato paste, but I find that ketchup really gives it a bit more flavor in the end.
Add a can of beans. Stir. I use pink beans for their mild flavor, and because they are not as chalky as some others. Kidney beans are popular, but go ahead and use your favorite sort of bean. If you added corn to make it a more Mexican rice, perhaps black beans would keep in with that theme.
Add a can of beans. Stir. I use pink beans for their mild flavor, and because they are not as chalky as some others. Kidney beans are popular, but go ahead and use your favorite sort of bean. If you added corn to make it a more Mexican rice, perhaps black beans would keep in with that theme.
Put the cover back on and kill the heat, or at least bring it down to very low. Allow to sit for a while as the rice absorbs all the rest of the water. Once the water has all simmered away and been absorbed by the rice, your dish is ready to be served.
Now if you're real daring, you could try to get a bit of that traditional paella crust in the bottom of the pan. It does give a subtle smoky flavor to the dish, but you have to be very careful not to burn it. In fact, this was how I came to discover the flavor quality, I almost burned a batch of it, but gave it a quick stir as it was sticking to the bottom of the pan and just about to burn, saving the dish, and learning something new. If you do happen to burn it, see if you can dump the whole pan out upside-down into another dish and pick off the burnt crust. You could also practice the intentional "scorching" with smaller portions in the pan, rather than risking the whole batch.
Although meat does add a lot of flavor to the dish, a strictly veggie version would probably be enjoyable to vegetarian friends, or as a hearty side dish to a meat entree, such as roast or fried chicken, BBQ ribs perhaps, or even alongside an authentic Texas chili made with steak rather than ground beef.
For a very basic version to be served as a side dish, omit meats and extra veggies. A standard Spanish rice recipe calls for oregano rather than a full seasoning blend, but you should still be sure to use at least a little bit of garlic, onion, and diced peppers along with either the ketchup or some tomato paste.
Here is your shopping list:
Rice, ham, onion, green and red pepper, garlic, peas, carrots, celery, ketchup, olive oil, seasoning,
Now if you're real daring, you could try to get a bit of that traditional paella crust in the bottom of the pan. It does give a subtle smoky flavor to the dish, but you have to be very careful not to burn it. In fact, this was how I came to discover the flavor quality, I almost burned a batch of it, but gave it a quick stir as it was sticking to the bottom of the pan and just about to burn, saving the dish, and learning something new. If you do happen to burn it, see if you can dump the whole pan out upside-down into another dish and pick off the burnt crust. You could also practice the intentional "scorching" with smaller portions in the pan, rather than risking the whole batch.
Although meat does add a lot of flavor to the dish, a strictly veggie version would probably be enjoyable to vegetarian friends, or as a hearty side dish to a meat entree, such as roast or fried chicken, BBQ ribs perhaps, or even alongside an authentic Texas chili made with steak rather than ground beef.
For a very basic version to be served as a side dish, omit meats and extra veggies. A standard Spanish rice recipe calls for oregano rather than a full seasoning blend, but you should still be sure to use at least a little bit of garlic, onion, and diced peppers along with either the ketchup or some tomato paste.
Here is your shopping list:
Rice, ham, onion, green and red pepper, garlic, peas, carrots, celery, ketchup, olive oil, seasoning,
