Brown Rice & Resolutions

As part of my new year's resolutions I decided to make at least 24 new sauces (or dips or dressings) in 2012. Sometimes it's too much to make an entirely new main dish, but a new salad dressing seems doable. And I'm happy to inform you that January isn't even half over and I've already succeeded in making a new sauce! (Please, hold your applause until the end. Thank you very much, though, thank you.)

from The New Laurel's Kitchen:

     Stroganoff Sauce

1 cup buttermilk
1 Tbls cornstarch

1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 Tbls butter
1/3 - 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced

1/4 tsp salt or 1 Tbls shoyu
black pepper

Combine buttermilk and cornstarch and set aside. Saute onion and garlic in butter until soft. Crush the garlic with a fork. Stir in mushrooms and cook just until tender. Remove mushrooms and juices from the pan and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Stir and cook until thickened, then return the mushrooms and their juices to the pan. Season with salt (or shoyu) and pepper.

The recipe claims to taste "like a sour cream sauce," and I suppose it does. And I even cheated a bit when I made it by substituting vinegar in milk rather than using the buttermilk that was called for (tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't ever have buttermilk on hand?) I also used dried mushrooms instead of fresh (soaked in boiling water for 10 mins to reconstitute), and they worked great.

Overall, I'm happy with the sauce, but I admit that when I first tasted it I thought it was just okay. What took it from okay to happy? Putting it on the bestest, most delicous rice ever.

I made this rice almost as an afterthought (had to put my sauce on something) and am still amazed by how wonderful brown rice is when done right. I'm not kidding. I'm a convert. No more brown rice in the rice cooker,  not ever again. This is the way it should be:

from Nourishing Traditions:


     Basic Brown Rice I
     (unsoaked rice)
    

2 cups long-grain brown rice
2 Tbls butter
2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
3 cardamom pods
4 cups stock or combination of water and stock
1/2 tsp sea salt

In a heavy, flameproof casserole, melt butter and olive oil. Open cardamom pods and add seeds to the casserole. Saute rice in butter and oil, stirring constantly, until rice begins to turn milky. Pour in liquid, add salt and bring to a rolling boil. Boil, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until water has reduced to the level of the rice. Reduce flame to lowest heat, cover tightly and cook for at least 1 1/2 hours or as long as 3 hours. Do not remove lid during cooking. Serves 6-8.

My rice took exactly the 1 1/2 hours on the stovetop. And. It. Was. Wonderful. It sounds ridiculous, to say rice tasted wonderful. But I'm serious, cross my heart and everything. Wonderful.

Sauce + Rice = superb side for dinner and delectible leftovers for lunch (which I'm eating right now). Very, very pleased with this receipe attempt! (This is what I'd hoped for, starting Wellcookbooked!)

You may now applaud.