Rice

We actually got this brilliant idea from our World’s Greatest Chicken Pot Pie recipe (page 48), borrowing some of its staple flavors to create an entirely new dish. The mild flavors of the tarragon and white wine sauce complement the leek mixture in this new creation. Baking the salmon en croute keeps the fish moist and seals in its natural flavors. When you find a flavor combination you love, experiment and find new ways to make it work for you!

No special equipment needed here. Leave the paella pan at the store and let your casserole dish do the work. Packed with fresh seafood and accentuated with the alluring flavor of saffron, your kids may call this pimpin’ dish “The Bomb,” which means it’s good. This dish lives or dies by the freshness of the fish. The beauty of paella is that it is a flexible dish, so talk to your local fishmonger to get recommendations on the best catch of the day. If you don’t like seafood, the dish actually works really well without it, too.

Crystal’s “Mamaw” Cook served these delicious stuffed peppers with a delectable buttered bread-crumb topping. These bad boys are sauce-free, and preferred that way so that the taste of the pepper comes through. But neither Crystal nor Mamaw Cook will take offense if you want to add a little sauce. (See opposite for a tomato sauce that’s a great match for this dish.)

When you use my Risotto-Without-a-Recipe technique (opposite), you can flavor it with anything you like. Sweet little rock shrimp, bright lemon, and fresh herbs are one of my favorite combos.

If you wheel your grocery cart down the rice aisle, you will not find “risotto.” Risotto is not a type of rice—it’s a method used for cooking Arborio or Carnaroli rice. And once you learn how to make risotto using my Risotto-Without-a-Recipe method, you’ll be able to make any kind of risotto simply by adding ingredients and flavorings to this basic technique.

Rice pudding is an old-fashioned dessert and some might consider it dated. I find it a modern comfort. I adore the way chopped dates flavor the creamy sweetened vanilla-infused rice. A drizzle of lemon sauce over the top updates this old-time favorite.

Freshwater prawns farmed in Mississippi are hatched in the nursery and kept in brackish water for three weeks. After that they are moved to fresh artesian well water in the nursery for thirty more days and then are stocked in ponds when the water temperature reaches the mid-sixties. After about four months they have grown large enough to bring to market. When the prawns are harvested in the fall from the artesian waters I always make a batch of this dirty rice. It is Southern through and through and well seasoned.

I like the browned bits that cling to the skillet, like the socarrat of a paella, when I cook this side dish for my family. I like it so much, in fact, that I serve everyone the fluffy top part and when I’m back in the kitchen I scrape that part off and serve it to myself.

White rice (arroz blanco) is the quintessential Caribbean food and is always a sure choice for a simple side dish that will complement rather than outshine the main course. It’s especially excellent for sopping up the delicious juices from Crock-Pot Cuban Ropa Vieja (page 113).

This side dish is as easy to put together as it is tasty; my mom made it for us at least once a week. It packs lots of nutrition and flavor into a single dish, it is a very successful way to get kids to eat broccoli, and it is great to eat with so many things. Try it with Tilapia with Citrus-Garlic Sauce (page 74), Lemon Fried Chicken (page 80), or Meat Loaf (page 115). Any amount of butter works here. I tend to use a lot, but feel free to use less.

Also known as Spanish rice, Mexican Rice is very difficult to make well. Once you add the tomato sauce and water, you can’t really touch it or you’ll ruin the texture. The hard part is knowing how much spice to add, because the rice won’t properly absorb any seasoning once the water is absorbed. This makes it nearly impossible to perfect, and once it is done, it is done. There’s a saying in my family: “When you perfect the rice, you are ready to get married. But not until then.” Follow my recipe and your Mexican Rice will be fabulous, too. Include the chicken to serve it as a main course.

These are not your typical mussels served in run-of-the-mill white wine broth. The tomato harissa broth is an addictive elixir. Even though the mussels are served with rice, you will want to have plenty of crusty bread on hand to sop up the flavorful goodness.

The simplest way to enjoy wild shrimp is to cook them fast and serve them warm, still in their shells, with melted butter. This recipe takes the opposite but equally flavorful tack: the shrimp are slow-cooked, infusing the entire soup with sweet shrimpiness.