Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Brown Rice with Fennel and Tangerine Peel

Very few of us have the kind of lives where we can present Julia Child style meals to our families each night.  Most of us are simply too busy to devote hours and hours to cooking the day's meals.

However, if you're reading this blog, you probably love food and want to enjoy delicious, seasonal flavors frequently.  For me, that means that I often mix simply prepared foods, like Italian sausages or roast chicken, with side dishes that have a little something special added.  

For example, this Brown Rice with Fennel and Tangerine has a few extra ingredients compared to plain brown rice.  It tastes special.  And yet, it only takes a few minutes more to prepare it.  I love that it features fennel and tangerine, two in-season foods, and two flavors that I find very complimentary. 


One little tip--  This recipe calls for chicken stock.  I often make my own chicken stock and other bone broths.  I find it very simple to just toss leftover bones into a pot along with a few vegetables and spices and let it simmer over my lowest heat setting for the entire day. A quick five minutes of prep work and a little awareness throughout the day equals delicious flavor and super healing power.  (see here for my bone broth recipe).  However, I blow through chicken broth at a rate that I can never keep up with preparing my own.  I just don't have enough bones.  Lately I've been buying Trader Joe's* organic free range broth for $1.99 per carton.  The price is excellent, but I really like the broth.  It seems to have much more intensity and color than the other commercially prepared broths I buy, especially for the price. 



Brown Rice with Fennel and Tangerine Peel

1 cup brown rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 T olive oil
1 fennel bulb sliced
1/2 t salt
Ground fresh pepper to taste
Grated peel from 2 tangerines
Juice from 2 tangerines

Bring the 2 cups of chicken broth to boil in a sauce pan and add the brown rice, olive oil and fennel bulb. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook the rice for the amount of time indicated on the rice package. When the rice is 5 minutes before completion, add the salt, pepper, tangerine peel and juice.  

*Eat Thrive Heal is not sponsored or paid by any stores or products.  We just pass on tips about what we like and what we find makes our cooking lives easier.

Another fennel and tangerine combo we love.  Click here for the recipe.


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