Cooking with USA Rice

Thanks to a good twitter friend of mine I was able to accomplish a long thought about cooking goal: making risotto. Thanks to her and USA rice I finally made this dish earlier this week and I have to say I am pretty proud of myself! The blog project I participated in was specifically for brown rice grown in the USA. Already I've learned something, I had no idea the USA was such a large supplier of rice. Just to put it in perspective for you, USA is one of the largest exporters of rice supplying about 12% of rice that enters world trade. Approximately 50 per cent of the U.S. rice crop is exported to more than 100 countries. In fact over 65% of rice consumed in Canada comes from the USA and Canada produces no rice of its own. Interesting isn't it?
 
Since risotto was my goal I went in search of a recipe for it using brown rice on allrecipes.com. I have only ever cooked rice on the stove and this recipe used that method as well even though there are several ways you can cook rice. From prep time to cook time the whole process took about 2 1/2 hours. Below is the recipe I used and I have listed the modifications I made.

 Getting ready to start. All my ingredients in place.

Rice added, let the stirring begin!

 An hour and a bit later the risotto is looking pretty good.

 

Ta da! The finished product with lots of left overs. It was so good!

 

Here are some other interesting facts about USA rice that you may not know:

• Rice is grown in six U.S. states: Arkansas, Louisiana, California, Mississippi, Texas and Missouri. Together, Arkansas, California and Louisiana account for about 80 per cent of U.S. rice acreage and production.
• Rice has been produced in the U.S. for more than 300 years.
• There are approximately 30 rice mills in the U.S.
• The U.S. produces over 40 commercial varieties of rice each year in paddy, brown, white, parboiled and precooked forms.
• There are thousands of rice varieties. At the International Rice Research Institute Genetic Resources Centre in the Philippines, 80,000 rice samples are in cold storage. 
• Rice is grown on every continent except Antarctica.
• One seed of rice yields more than 3,000 grains. It is the highest yielding cereal grain and can grow in many kinds of environment and soils.
• Winter-flooded rice fields provide important habitat for migratory waterfowl and other species. Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of rice acres are being enhanced annually to provide habitat for these birds.

For more information on rice and how to cook with it, watch this video featuring culinary expert Rose Reisman.

 

NUTRITIONAL OVERVIEW

Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating recommends six to eight servings of grain products per day for adults. At least half of those servings should be whole grain products. One cup (250 mL) of rice provides two servings of grain products. The Canadian diet should consist of between 45 to 65 percent of calories from carbohydrates, including cereal, breads, other grain products, fruits and vegetables.

BROWN RICE

Low in fat and sodium-free.  Contains 115 calories per cooked half-cup (125 mL) serving.

Long Grain Brown

A source of:
· Thiamine, Niacin,Vitamin B6, Phosphorus, Zinc

A good source of:

· Magnesium

Medium Grain Brown

A source of

· Fibre, Thiamine,  Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), Phosphorus, Zinc, Copper

 

A good source of:

 

· Magnesium

 

Brown Rice Vegetable Risotto

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 6 servings

• 1 quart vegetable broth, or as needed
• 5 cups water, or as needed
• 1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 cups short-grain brown rice
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 cup green peas, thawed if frozen
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring vegetable broth and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add asparagus, reduce heat to low, and simmer until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer asparagus to a bowl of ice water; let chill for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Meanwhile, cover saucepan and keep broth mixture at a near-simmer on low heat.
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring gently, until toasted and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Pour 1 cup of the hot broth mixture into the rice and cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is almost absorbed. Adjust heat if necessary to maintain a simmer. Repeat, using 1/2 cup liquid at a time, until rice is just beginning to become tender, about 25 minutes.
4. Stir in diced carrots. Continue adding broth and stirring rice mixture until carrots are just tender, about 20 minutes more. Mix in zucchini; if broth mixture gets low, add hot water as needed. Cook and stir, adding broth, until rice is tender, about 5 minutes.
5. Mix in drained asparagus and peas and cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes, Add Parmesan and butter, stirring until butter melts. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour in an additional 1/2 cup hot broth to the finished risotto for a softer consistency, if desired.

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

*I used different vegetables than what was listed in this recipe. I used the asparagus and zucchini and added mushrooms. When I make this again I will add the zucchini and mushrooms when the rice is more tender. I found the recipe adds them too early. The rice wasn't as tender as I wanted it to be and still required a lot of stirring so the zucchini was getting a bit soggy by the time I was ready to take it off the burner. I used less water than the recipe indicated and didn't use up the entire broth mixture. For the cooking times given I found mine were longer. I may up the heat next time and see if that makes a difference.

Link to recipe