Starch, My Sweet

Let’s be frank: college students don’t do well with
the Atkins diet. Carbs, from pop corn to pasta to ramen are the
basis of everyone’s diet. Occasionally, that Ivy League
ambition strikes, egging us on to prepare a starchy dish with a
little more cache. For such times, I propose rice and risotto.

An eight-year-old can make risotto; I’ve seen it done. So
I can only assume that the reason it has acquired such a sexy
veneer is that’s it’s creamy, delicious, and impressive
to order in restaurants.

As for rice, it’s cheap, even the fancy imported kind.
Rice is limitlessly adaptable. Rice is satisfying—comforting,
even—to the same degree that Ramen is degrading. And it
elevates the hell out of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
sizzling on the George Foreman.

For the benefit of those for whom Rice-a-Roni pushes the
boundaries of culinary achievement, here are some very simple ways
to cook risotto and rice. The key is the basic recipe; once
that’s secure, improvising and improving comes naturally.

RISOTTO

For the perfect risotto, you’ll need short-grain risotto
rice. Try to find Vialone Nano if you can, or Arborio, Carnaroli.
You’ll also need a splash of white wine (maybe the first
splash out of the bottle... ), but a smaller splash of vermouth
could suffice. (Vermouth is good to have if you cook with wine,
because the shelf life is substantially longer than that of a
bottle, and you’re less likely to just drink it. And you need
it for martinis.) Also, you will need parmesan cheese. This is not
a place for the crappy stuff; if, like me, you can’t always
splurge on the real thing, try a good quality Grana Padano, or hard
pecorino, or whatever is the best grating cheese you can afford.
One cup of rice will yield two main course portions.

The technique:

1. In one saucepan, bring 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
to a simmer over medium heat.

2. In another, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive
oil or combination olive oil and butter over medium-high.

3. Add half a chopped onion, stirring until soft and golden.

4. Add the rice, and stir until it looks chalky (you’ll
see a white dot in the middle of the grains).

5. Add the wine and stir until it’s absorbed.

6. Add a ladle of stock, and stir until it’s absorbed.

7. Repeat with the stock, going ladle by ladle for 20 minutes or
so, stirring so the rice doesn’t stick and burn. You’re
not actually chained to the stove at this point, but you do need to
be able to check and stir frequently. If you think you might need
more stock, add more, or add some water.

8. The rice is done when you like it: a little bit firm to the
bite, but there is much personal (and in Italy, regional) variety
as to how liquidy it should be in the end.

9. Once off the heat, stir in 1 tablespoon butter and
1/3-1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan, salt and pepper. Eat
immediately.

Variations are endless, generally involving an addition of
precooked or quick-cooking ingredients in the final five minutes.
These are some classics:

Milanese: Simply add a pinch of saffron to the chicken stock
above.

Seafood: Add pieces of uncooked fish or seafood to the simple
risotto or to Milanese in the last five-10 minutes of cooking (if
using cooked, stir in at the last moment only to reheat), along
with chopped fresh tomato, fresh parsley, and frozen peas or
precooked vegetables. Serve without the cheese.

Vegetable: Any combination of precooked (sautéed or
parboiled) vegetables added at the end, along with preferred herbs,
such as parsley, basil, or lemon thyme, and/or juice and zest from
a lemon.

Porcini: Soak a small amount of dried porcini mushrooms
(something like a child’s handful or an adult’s large
pinch) in a bowl of hot water while you cut up your onion and get
your pots out. Squeeze the water out of the porcinis without
shaking up the debris at the bottom of the bowl. Slowly and
carefully pour the liquid—except for the dregs—into a
pot over medium heat, and add chicken or vegetable stock to total
about 4 cups. Proceed as in the basic recipe, adding the porcinis
at the end, as well as thyme or parsley if you have it, and plenty
of black pepper.

Leftovers: Leftover risotto doesn’t reheat very well.
However, if you’ve ended up with too much, you can mix the
cold leftovers with a beaten egg and, if you like, extra herbs.
Heat some butter in a skillet, and then cook the risotto as a
large, thin pancake, until crispy. More elaborately, and good as a
party dish, try arancini: Mix the risotto with some chopped
parsley, beaten egg, salt, pepper, and diced mozzarella. Form into
golf ball-sized rounds. Dip into beaten egg, then breadcrumbs to
coat, and fry in vegetable oil till brown and crispy.

LONG GRAIN RICE

Long grain rice is the standard rice for American dishes. Any
package of long grain rice gives instructions for its most
elementary cooking method, but if you inexplicably come into
possession of an unlabeled container of long grain rice (and you
intend to eat it anyway), simply boil twice the volume of water as
the volume of rice you’re cooking, adding salt and butter to
taste. Exactly what quantity depends on your appetite: one cup of
uncooked rice will yield three cups cooked. Once you add the rice,
bring the water back to a boil, then cover the pot and reduce the
heat to the minimum level that your stove permits. Cook it for
about 15 minutes.

When cooking long grain rice, adhere religiously to this rule:
don’t mess with it.

Don’t check it for 15 minutes and by all means,
don’t stir it; long grain rice is meant to be a separated,
fluffy collection of grains, and stirring provokes the gelatinous,
gooey mess that you intuitively know is undesirable in a
“bed” of rice.

After 15 minutes, you can very quickly lift the lid and lift a
bite of rice to test (and promptly replace that lid). You
shouldn’t need more than 18 minutes. Once it’s off the
heat, cover the pot with a clean kitchen towel and replace the lid
for a few minutes.

Even with this simple method, you can substitute stock for the
water or add fresh herbs for more flavor.

However, the tastiest and most accommodating cooking method for
long grain rice is the pilaf, which is even better with basmati
rice. The fundamental recipe is as follows:

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons of fat (olive oil, vegetable
oil, or butter) over a medium-high heat.

2. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped onions and stir until golden.

3. Add your rice, and stir until it becomes bright white.

4. Add liquid—preferably stock or water and bouillon
cube—at the same ratio as boiled rice: twice as much liquid
as rice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 15
minutes.

5. Take it off the heat and cover with a towel for a few minutes
before stirring in fresh herbs and serving.

This structure will never fail, and can be varied at virtually
every step, most effectively by sautéing spices with the
onion.

Here are a few options:

For Mexican rice: Use vegetable oil, and sauté a generous
pinch of cumin and some chopped green pepper with the onion. As
liquid, use approximately half canned, chopped tomatoes and half
chicken stock (with a little extra stock). Off the heat, add
chopped fresh cilantro.

For Indian-spiced rice: Use vegetable oil, frying 1/2 teaspoon
turmeric, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed, a few crushed
cardamom pods, and a crushed clove of garlic with or without onion.
After the rice is cooked, stir in some toasted sesame and sunflower
seeds and 1/4 to 1/2 cup plain yoghurt.

For chicken and rice: First, brown chicken parts (thighs,
drumstick, etc.) in the oil; remove and set aside. Pour off some of
the fat, then proceed with the onion, desired spices, and
seasonings. Either combination from above would work, or experiment
with what appeals to you—maybe lemon zest, leeks, or oregano.
Add a little less stock, bring to a boil, and briefly stir up any
browned chicken bits from the bottom. Return the chicken to the
pan, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. You can then
add quick-cooking or thinly-sliced vegetables, such as frozen peas.
Cook until the rice is tender, about another 10 minutes.

Leftovers: If you have any leftover rice, you can use it to make
stuffed peppers or tomatoes. Begin by mixing the cooked rice with
leftover cooked vegetables or sauté a few fresh ones quickly
(such as sliced mushrooms, Swiss chard, or spinach). Add some
grated cheese, herbs, leftover chopped meat—whatever suits
your taste. Take a red or yellow pepper, or a large tomato, and
carefully slice off the top and scoop or scrape out the insides.
Stuff your vegetable, sprinkle some more grated cheese, and replace
the top. Bake them in a preheated oven at 400 until heated through,
about 20 minutes.