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This is yet another easy and tasty winner from the Shaw’s/America’s Test Kitchen “Get Inspired” recipe card series. I made this for Sunday night’s dinner.
A few notes – the sherry does add excellent flavor to the sauce. It happens that Mike likes to drink sherry sometimes, so we had some on hand. I’d keep some on hand anyway, even if we weren’t into drinking it, it is very good for cooking. It’s called for in many Chinese recipes to make stir-fry sauces.
But whatever you do, avoid something called “cooking sherry”, in fact, avoid any sort of “cooking wine” crap. Seriously. These are usually found in the supermarket near the vinegar. The reason they are not in the booze department is that they are non-drinkable, they are LOADED down with salt. The rule about cooking with wine or any kind of booze is: if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it. Go for the real thing or leave it out. It doesn’t have to be expensive, top-shelf stuff, but it has to be something that is drinkable.
If you do not wish to consume alcohol at all, I suggest just upping the amount of chicken broth by 1/2 cup.
As for the Parmesan cheese, no, I won’t go all food snobby on you and tell you that only the most expensive, imported brands will do. Nope, I’m a realist here. But I think that you should avoid those jars and cardboard cans of grated cheese that are found in the pasta aisle. They have NO flavor. Once you try buying a wedge of even the store brand Parmesan and grating/shredding it yourself, you will never look back, I promise. A wedge of cheese will go a LONG way, way longer than those cardboard cans that are almost the same price.
If you must buy pre-grated Parmesan, at least get it from the refrigerated cheese section, it’ll be much better quality.
In Step 3, I recommend adding the 1 cup cheese to the sauce first, stirring and letting it melt into the hot sauce, and then tossing in the broccoli. And yes, I did microwave the broccoli as instructed. It was much quicker than boiling water and cooking it that way, and it turned out fine.
I served this with my rice pilaf, and it was awesome! I wonder why cooking rice on the stovetop is such a challenge for some people, I think it’s one of the easiest things to cook. I can’t believe that I had to drag my ass out of bed at 5AM one day, to go to a class at culinary school at 7AM, only to be taught by the chef-instructor how to properly cook rice! It’s NOT that flippin’ hard!
Christine’s Favorite Rice Pilaf
4 tablespoons unsalted butter -OR- 2 tablespoons each butter and olive oil
2-3 large shallots -OR- 1 small onion, finely diced
2 cups uncooked long grain white rice (PLEASE, no Minute or Success rice or any of that crap)
Salt & pepper to taste
4 cups waterMelt butter in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, add oil if using. Add the shallots or onion and saute for a few minutes. Add the rice, stirring to coat well with the butter/oil. Saute for a few more minutes, stirring so as not to burn it. Throw in salt and pepper to taste if you want to.
Add the water, give it a good stir, and let it come to the boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat to LOW, and simmer for 10-15 minutes or so. You know it’s done when you see little holes on the surface of the rice. Fluff with a fork and serve. Makes about 6 cups.
Oh, and if my very own *food police* comment spammer comes back and says anything negative about all of the butter and cream (which is really not all that much)…PUT A SOCK IN IT! No one is putting a gun to your head forcing you to make and eat any of this stuff, anyway.
I think my readers are intelligent enough to decide for themselves whether or not they want to cook any of the stuff that I post here. So bugger off, already!
