Rice Pilaf

Rice Pilaf is one of those nice side dishes that goes with lots of entrees.  I found this recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and I tweaked a few of the ingredients.  It's a nice change to plain old white rice.

Rice Pilaf

Ingredients:

1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. sliced fresh button mushrooms
1/4 c. celery or green pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. butter or margarine
3/4 c. uncooked long grain rice
1 1/2 t. instant chicken, beef, or vegetable bouillon granules
1/4 t. black pepper
2 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional)

Directions:

In a medium saucepan cook onion, mushrooms, celery, and garlic in hot butter until tender.

Carefully stir in rice, bouillon granules, pepper, and 1 1/2 c. water.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until the rice is tender and liquid is absorbed.  If desired, stir in crumbled bacon.

In my test kitchen:

I never use the full amount of onion called for in any recipe.  In this dish I had some shallots that needed to be used up so I replaced the onion with about 1/4 c. shallots.  I also didn't have mushrooms or green pepper and I despise celery so I finely diced up some carrots.  And even though I'm not a big fan of peas, I think those might have been a nice touch to this.  I have done green pepper before and that tastes pretty good too.  My stove cooks hot so I had to add a little bit more water at the very end so this could cook through completely without burning. 

~Happy Cooking!