Basic Rice Pilaf

Basic Rice Pilaf
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison

2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, finely diced
1 1/4 c long-grain white
2 c simmering stock
1 small bay leaf
salt
fresh ground black pepper

Heat the butter with onion in a 2-3 quart saucepan and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add the rice, stir to coat, and cook for 2 minutes.

Add stock, bay leaf, 1/2 tsp salt, and a little pepper.

Cover, lower the heat as much as you can, and cook until rice is done, about 20 minutes.

When rice is done, remove from heat and let stand for 5-10 minutes to finish steaming. Gently fluff with a fork, discard the bay leaf, and serve.



Simple enough, and quite tasty too.  If you aren't a pepper fan, go easy, about a 1/8 tsp.  I cranked about that much into the rice, taking Rodney's pepper tolerance into consideration. This is easy enough to go with many things, including pan-fried fish like we're having tonight!  The flavor is on the low-key side, so it is likely best with something either completely spicy or quite mild.

We'll definitely have this again.  I really liked that it called for simple ingredients that we always have anyway.

Cost:

• rice: $0.50
• everything else, SWAG: $0.50

Total: $1 or $0.25 for each of four servings.