Traditional Bubble and Squeak in our household has always been leftover mashed potatoes and vegetables fried up with an egg. This rice version is a little fancier. Although it says to bake the potatoes, kumara and carrots in the oven, I think I’d speed the process up a bit and just microwave them. You might lose a little flavour, but not enough to make much difference and it would be just that bit easier.
The concept of cooking the rice in beer for the base of this pizza is something I’ve never heard of before and I’m not sure I think it’s a good idea, but that could be because I’m not a beer drinker. It would certainly add some flavour, but maybe with all the yummy toppings you don’t need the beer. I think I’d make it cooked in chicken stock, but that’s just me.
I haven’t tried this rice lasagne, although I have made a chicken lasagne both with standard lasagne sheets and with Gluten Free ones. My original recipe uses plain flour like this recipe, but I simply substituted GF plain flour which worked fine. To be totally honest I’m not sure how close to lasagne this rice one would turn out, maybe it would be more a rice slice. I think you’d have to careful you didn’t overcook the rice or it could be quite soggy. Even so it’s probably worth a try.
The combination of tinned tuna and vegetables served over couscous makes this a healthy, refreshing meal. If you wanted to you could play around with the ingredients – change the tuna for salmon, the couscous for rice or use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. It can be quite versatile.
Like all risottos this needs a bit of attention and patience to make, but I love the idea of combining chorizo, red wine, vegetables and parmesan cheese. I can’t decide if it’s Spanish or Italian, but either way the end result is worth the effort.
Looking for an alternative to plain boiled rice? What about making Greek rice instead. Easy to make in one pan, but unlike risotto doesn’t need constant stirring. It’s a great accompaniment to a Greek inspired meat dish, meatballs, kebabs, chicken or fish.
When I was a kid Fried Rice was an exotic Chinese dish which you bought from the small local Chinese café down the street. When my Mum started making it she would cook the rice first, let it go cold and then add it to the pan with spring onions, bacon and of course, the fried eggs. My husband’s mother used the absorption method like in this recipe, which is more like the Italian risotto technique. This old recipe was put out on a sheet of SEC (State Electricity Commission – Victoria) Tested Recipes, I don’t think my Mum was ever convinced it was a better way that hers though. I still make it like Mum did, but my husband swears by his mother’s method…………
Still got some Christmas ham left that you’re trying to use up? What about trying this risoni pasta bake. If you don’t have any risoni in the cupboard you could try it with macaroni or maybe even rice – either way some of that ham would get used.
Mum must have gone to some sort of Sun rice promotion as there is quite a few rice-based recipe sheets in her collection. Not many of them are desserts though. I thought this one might work well – rice, peaches, sultanas, honey and spices with a crumble topping smothered in either cream, custard or icecream definitely has some appeal.
Some years ago we were spending Christmas at a holiday house on the NSW south coast and our son decided to bring his girlfriend. That was no problem until it came to cooking Christmas lunch – she was a vegetarian………. Vegetarian Christmas recipes were few and far between in those days and I ended up serving her a stuffed eggplant. I just wish I’d found this recipe as it’s much more colorful and I suspect she would have enjoyed it more. Especially as the power went out due to a bushfire in the area and we ended up cooking the entire meal on the bbq – it was a very Australian Christmas.
Beb's Recipe Drawer 