Speedy homemade Spanish Rice

I won't say this is true, legit Spanish rice, but I did get the general recipe from my friend Elaina, a Jewish woman married to a Mexican American.  This is my interpretation of her interpretation from her mother-in-law.  It's like Telephone, but for recipes.

I love this recipe because it allows me to use my dutch oven (our cast iron love runs deep), and it saves well in the fridge for a few days.  The actual cooking time is long, but the hands-on time isn't much.  I always use the cooking time to do other prep work for the week.

Spanish Rice
1/4 stick butter (mmmm)
1/2 onion, sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, diced
2 cups of rice
2 cups of chicken or  veggie broth
V8 or something similar
Garlic - go nuts.  It's up to you

1) Heat your dutch oven and the butter over medium heat, until the butter is fully melted.


2) Add the rice.  Stir and cook until the rice begins to "toast" and brown.  Add the celery and onion, and cook for a few more minutes.  Add the garlic at the tail end of cooking the celery and onion.  If garlic cooks too long, it can burn and be nasty!


3)  Add a splash of your vegetable juice of choice.  Elaina and I had a good giggle when she told me to add a can of V8 to it and then the chicken broth,  I was thinking of the huge cans of V8 plus the chicken broth, and was picturing rice soup.  She meant those tiny little cans.  I just used a splash of the bottled stuff.  Maybe a scant 1/4 cup.



4)  Add the chicken broth.  Put the lid on, and cook for 20 minutes (stir once or twice), or until the rice has reached your desired texture.


This is the base for my "taco bowl" dinners.  Start with the rice, add black beans*, sliced avocado, salsa, sliced green onion, maybe a few tortilla chips (seek and devour Juanitas brand if you can find them.  Amazing) and a little cheese.  Delish, and ohhhh so inexpensive!  I rarely add meat to these bowls because between the beans and chicken broth, you're getting a good deal of healthy/filling protein.

*About every three months, I make a huge batch of black beans in my giant crockpot, and then freeze them in wide mouth pint jars.  Put them on the counter in the morning, and they defrost beautifully by dinner.
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