World Food Day and righteous rice
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Twenty-fifth Annual World Food Day Teleconference is tomorrow.
We spent a lot of time earlier this year talking about hunger, and how to pinch those pennies so you can eat, and afford to help others eat as well.
This year’s teleconference will examine the myriad issues arising from global climate change. Places that were once very fertile are now having extreme weather. Crops that were once for food have been converted to fuel. New crop pests and diseases are springing up where they once could not thrive. If you’d like to know more, go to www.worldfooddayusa.org. The teleconference will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
We last talked about rice in August, and I still have recipes for you to try. As we know, rice is a worldwide staple grain, a whole grain, healthy and physically sustaining. There are places where rice is just about all you get in a given day. To quote Martin Luther King, Jr.: “I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for the minds and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”
Arborio rice is perfect for risotto, just as rice is perfect with sauces. I have been experimenting with an oven-proof method for making risotto, and have had pretty good success. So, if you don’t want to incorporate the liquid a cup at a time, get everything cooked up, add all the liquid (warmed) at once and put in the oven, covered for 30 to 40 minutes at 375 degrees. This should just about do it, and then you stir in the cheese at the end.
Arborio rice is available in most of our stores in town. You must use fresh cheese: Parmigiano, Reggiano, Asiago, etc. You can’t use the stuff in the can. Soft cheeses do not work as well as the hard ones.
REGINA’S GARDEN RISOTTO
6 cups chicken broth (or 4 cups broth, 2 cups white wine)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
dash of salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 lightly packed cups baby spinach leaves
1 lightly packed cup basil leaves
1 cup diced carrot, steamed
1/2 lb. asparagus, steamed and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Heat the broth to a simmer. Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over moderately low heat and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft. Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly for one minute. Season with salt and pepper, and add the spinach, basil, carrots and asparagus. Sauté about two minutes to get everything hot.
Pour this into a casserole dish with a lid, and then add the heated broth. Stir it all together, cover and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Check to see if all the liquid has been absorbed. If it hasn’t, continue to bake in five-minute intervals until it is.
Remove from the oven and stir in the cheese. Add a little more heated broth if the risotto seems too thick. Serve nice and hot, with a meat or not.
And now, a word from a great American First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt: “As I journey through the world I think the human right that means most to the greatest number of people is the right to eat—and only after that is gratified can we offer cultural and spiritual leadership.”
Roosevelt was the driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. She also said that food can be used as a weapon “both for war and peace.” Just a thought, on World Food Day.
Red beans and rice is a delicious Louisiana dish, traditionally served on Mondays using the ham bone left over from the previous Sunday’s ham dinner. Red beans are not kidney beans, although you could use just about any bean you want. If you don’t have a full pound of meat, that’s OK. It doesn’t take much to season the dish. If you don’t have a ham bone, you can use smoked sausage just as well.
EVERYDAY RED
BEANS AND RICE
4 cups dried red beans
2 quarts water
1 lb. ham or a ham bone
1 carrot, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper, to taste
6 cups cooked white rice
Pick through the beans to remove foreign matter or shriveled specimens. Soak the beans overnight in cold water; drain. Heat the beans in about 2 quarts of water, add all ingredients except salt and pepper, and boil for at least 2 hours. When beans are tender, mash them up a bit, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve over white boiled rice with hot sauce on the side. Feeds a dozen!
“The first great human right to most of the people of the world is the right to eat. We have been blessed by the Almighty with a land that provides us with a surplus of food and yet we have not learned how to share this surplus with the people of the world. ... If we eat, but our neighbours starve, we may have power for a little while, but we will not have assurance of peace and security for all.” Eleanor Roosevelt, 1948.
Please keep in mind our local food agencies as we go into that time of year when cold food (or no food) on a cold day is cold comfort. Abundant Harvest, The Salvation Army, The United Way of the Flint Hills and area churches all work to keep Lyon Countians fed, so they can continue to work for their families, on their school assignments, remain healthy and work towards getting into a situation where they don’t need help finding food to eat.
Next week is an accounting of my excursion to the American Royal Barbecue festival. I’m still waiting to hear from you about your plans for Halloween party food! Please send me your ideas or recipes by Monday at murphysmenu@yahoo.com or 517 Merchant St.
Let’s Get Cooking!