Jun 28 Brown Rice Spanikorizo

• 3/4 cup dry brown rice, parboiled
• olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 medium tomato, skin removed and chopped
• 1 large bunch spinach, carefully cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or water or other broth) as needed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• kosher salt to taste

Spanikorizo is a traditional Greek dish of rice and spinach seasoned with lemon and dill. I make absolutely no pretense at cooking up an authentic version of this dish. The brown rice is my own take on it. Normally I argue in favor of sticking with traditional methods, but I experimented with brown rice in this dish when I was looking to incorporate more of it into my diet, and it works so well that I’m an advocate of the change here.

Everyone I’ve foisted this upon has so far agreed that this is an extremely tasty side dish, and I’ve had a few requests for the recipe. Surprisingly, this dish is also quite good for you. It has a decent-sized portion of spinach relative to the rice, which provides a good source of many important nutrients, including vitamin A, calcium, and iron. The brown rice contributes B vitamins and a few other minerals, and both are a good source of fiber. Did I mention it’s also delicious?

In the ingredients list I mention that 3/4 cup of dry brown rice should be parboiled. By this I mean boil 3/4 cup brown rice in a large pot of water for 15 minutes, then drain the rice and set aside. The rice can be parboiled several days in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator. Mark Bittman had a nice video about doing this and cooking with the rice on the New York Times site as part of his Bitten series. I would find it and include a link, but ever since the Times erected the pay wall, it’s become considerably less convenient to dig through their contents looking for things, so I’m not really feeling inclined.

As for the tomato, there are a couple of different ways to remove the skin. You can score the bottom of the tomato with an X, then place in boiling water for 30 seconds to one minute. Remove the tomato and the skin should peel off easily once it has cooled slightly. For this recipe, I strongly prefer to toast the tomato in a pan under the broiler until it begins to blacken, then turn it over and blacken the skin on the other side. Set the tomato aside and let it cool. The skin will slip off easily and any juices that have collected in the pan can be used along with the tomato. The broiling method concentrates the flavor of the tomato slightly and adds a slightly sweet note to the dish.

Once the ingredients are ready, heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan well. Add the parboiled rice and onion, cooking until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato and the spinach. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted. Add the broth, lemon juice, dill, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, then cook, covered, 20 minutes.

Once 20 minutes have passed, check the rice. If not all of the liquid has been absorbed, continue cooking over low, partially covered and stirring occasionally, until the rice is the desired consistency. You can avoid extra cooking time by keeping your total amount of liquids to about a cup and a half, but I actually like the creamy texture that the rice takes on when you cook off a little extra liquid.

The spanikorizo is best when warm, but is still very good refrigerated and served cold.