Mmmm, rice
Okay, so I’m still sick. I spent most of the day in bed, not feeling like doing much, taking my temperature occasionally (still ranging from 100 to 101), and making occasional phone calls. In one of those calls, a friend suggested that I ought to eat something. Agreeing, I’ve thrown together a bite of food.
Based on all the “rest and plenty of liquids” advice, I went ahead and started simmering up a mirepoix from scraps I’d saved a few weeks ago, and began poking around in my cabinets for something to go with the broth. Rice topped the list, but I wanted whole grains, and all I had was… oh, nope, what’s this? I have some “Forbidden Rice” – the purple short-grain rice formerly reserved for the exclusive use of the Emperors of China. It’s more flavorful than most other rice, which I thought would be nice after not eating all day. So I heated some olive oil, and began sautéing the forbidden rice with a little salt.
When the rice started skittering a little, I began adding a little bit of broth at a time – just enough to keep it wet but not soupy – and stirred it up every now and then. Where am I going with this? You guessed it: risotto. Once the rice got soft, I opened up a can of (local, oil-packed) albacore tuna (I know, I know – I’m supposed to stick to the rice – but I really wanted something to make this meal more interesting to my palate), drained it and added it to the rice. I put in the last of the broth, simmered and stirred it long enough to break up the chunks of fish, and then took it off the heat.
For a final touch, I added some capers, and stirred it all together.
How did it turn out? It was okay. I think the rice would have been better without the fish & capers, but it would also have been less filling. Maybe I ought to have just left out the capers, and made it more of an Asian dish.