Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice Rethought - Recipe

The traditional recipe for arroz verde involves cooking your rice with a puree of poblano peppers and herbs. It is truly delicious, and I'd choose it in a heartbeat over the typical red rice you find nearly universally at Mexican-American restaurants.

When I went to make it yesterday, I thought to myself "now why am I cooking all of these delicious fresh herbs?" Their flavor is so perfect when raw, why should I boil the for 20 minutes? So I took a new approach. I omitted the poblanos, and simply made a pesto-like puree of the herbs, garlic, and a little oil. After the plain rice was cooked, I stirred in the herbs right before serving.

The result was really satisfying, with a clean, bright, summery flavor. And as you can see, the green color is very appealing on the plate.

The recipe below calls for 2 cups of fresh herbs. My daughter and I raided the garden, and used a lot of flat-leaf parsley, oregano, and cilantro,and smaller amounts of chives, rosemary, mint and dill. You can vary it according to what you have available and what you are serving it with. Because the herbs are thoroughly pureed, you can use tenderish stems of parsley and cilantro as well as the leaves.

Arroz Verde - Mexican Green Herb Rice
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 4 as a side dish

• 1.5 cups medium grain white rice
• 2 cups edible parts of lightly packed fresh herbs (see note above)
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons kosher or sea salt

1. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or according to package directions.
2. In a food processor, combine the herbs, garlic, and olive oil. Process until thoroughly pureed.
3. Just before serving, stir the herb mixture and salt into the rice. Taste and add more salt as needed.
4. Variation: you could also stir in a bit of lime or lemon juice.

Chocolate, Chocolate and More Chocolate

The second annual Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon is coming up again on July 12. I was a judge last year and was impressed with the wide range of chocolatiers that showed up to sample their wares, and at $20 for an adult advance ticket I thought it was a darn good deal.

I won't be able to attend this year, but somehow I still had the good fortune to receive a few advance samples from two of my favorite places: Theo Chocolates and Chocolopolis. Sometimes it is good to be a blogger!

Theo sent along a 91% Costa Rica bar that was amazingly smooth for such a high percentage, and a 45% milk chocolate that completely redefined my understanding of the light stuff. It has a complex, caramelized flavor that I could go back to over and over. Also included was a coffee & dark chocolate bar done in concert with Caffe Vita, and these incredible ghost chile & sea salt caramels.

I had the opportunity to tour Theo a couple months ago with a group organized by Keren Brown (aka the Frantic Foodie). I was amazed at what a small, committed group of people can do. How many chocolate companies do you know that have two Ph.D.'s on staff, one who specializes in the anthropology of cacao and another who is helping growers around the world improve the quality of their beans and processing? Or that have already been featured on Oprah? Or that partner with Jane Goodall? Or that uses only organic, fair trade beans? Amazing stuff. I can't even begin to tell you their whole story, you should just go visit them and take the factory tour, or if you live far away, peruse their site and buy some bars.

Chocolopolis also deserves lots of love. Chief Chocophile Lauren Adler curates ultra-high quality bars and confections from around the world, gathering them all at her small Queen Anne shop. It is a terrific place to taste, learn about chocolate, and come home with goodies you can't find anywhere else. They also make some awesome stuff on-site. The fig filled with anise ganache and dipped in 72% chocolate was one of the best bites I've put in my mouth in a long time.

Speaking of local Seattle companies, take a minute to sign up for the ChefShop.com newsletter and you have the chance to win $500 worth of their products. Their products are awesome.

Kicking It Old School

I'm going to be traveling on and off for the next few weeks, and probably won't be able to post as much as usual. I've been doing this blog almost two years now, and since there are a lot more regular readers now than back in the day, I thought I might use this time to highlight a few of my favorite posts from the way-back machine. I sure am grateful to all of you for your support and interest!

To get things started, here are two recipes from early October 2007, both of which have been perennial favorites.

Otsu Noodles

These otsu noodles are a cool and refreshing combination of soba (buckwheat) noodles with a sesame dressing and lots of veggies.

Mujadara

Mujadara is a classic Middle Eastern pilaf of rice, lentils and caramelized onions. I make this all the time because it is so nutritious and satisfying. Make a big batch and you can eat it for days. Everyone loves it.