Rice dish shows off bold flavors
Rapini’s bold, no-snooze flavor profile boasts a pleasing bitterness that can be tamed with creamy pasta, or grains augmented with caramelized onions and garlic.
With stalks more slender than found on broccoli, rapini is topped with spiky, jagged-edged leaves and bundles of compact buds.
This recipe uses a tasty brown rice blend. There are several brands in the marketplace, such as Lundberg’s blend of long-grain brown rice, Wehani rice and Black Japonica rice. When cooked, the blend mixes have a lovely earthiness that teams well with rapini.
If you like, substitute plain, long-grain brown rice. Brown rice generally triples in volume when cooked, but a brown rice blend yields a little less.
Figure that 1 ½ cups of raw brown rice blend will make about 4 cups when cooked, the amount needed in this recipe.
Rapini With Caramelized Onions and Brown Rice Blend Yield: 6 servings INGREDIENTS
11⁄2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, cut into 3⁄8-inch thick slices Optional: 1⁄2 teaspoon sugar 11⁄4 pounds rapini, cut into 2-inch pieces
2large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1⁄4 teaspoon red chile flakes Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 cups cooked brown rice blend
Garnish: 2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
DIRECTIONS
1: Heat oil in large deep skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and toss to coat with oil. Cook until starting to soften and turn brown. Reduce heat to mediumlow. If desired, add sugar; sugar helps onions to caramelize, but they will brown without it, it will just take a little longer. So leave out the sugar if you prefer. Cook until nicely browned, stirring occasionally, about 12-15 minutes, adding garlic 3-4 minutes before the completion of cooking.
2: Meanwhile, put a large pot of salted water on high heat. When boiling, add rapini. Cook until tender-crisp, about 3-5minutes. Drain well, shaking the colander. Add to onions and toss. Add dried red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Divide rice between 6 bowls. Spoon mixture over rice, sprinkle parsley on top and serve. Source: “50Best Plants on the Planet,” by Cathy Thomas (Chronicle, $29.95)