Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Pine Nuts



Have you ever noticed that some people are potato people and some people are rice people? My dad for example, is a potato person. He’s happiest with a side of simple boiled potatoes as his starch, for practically any meal. He can eat a plate full of them, while I will have just a quarter of one small Yukon gold. I am a rice person. Perhaps it’s the residual of scraping by on steamed broccoli and brown rice for so many years before discovering the twin joys of bacon and butter. Or perhaps it comes from living in Japan where rice is so important the word for it (gohan) is the same as the word for food. In any case, I love rice every which way. This is a nutty, earthy rice pilaf, a riff off of my mother’s basic pilaf, but with mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, some butter, and a green. We were originally considering this as a stuffing for a poultry dish, but decided to serve it as a side instead (great with chicken). Do you have a favorite rice pilaf or pilaf-ish rice stuffing that could double as a side? I would love to hear about it. Thanks in advance. Yours truly, the Rice-Obsessed-One.


Rice Pilaf with Mushrooms and Pine Nuts Recipe

Ingredients

  • Up to 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (vegetable stock for vegetarian option, gluten-free stock for gluten-free version), depending on the type of rice you are using, or a mixture of water and stock*
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts
  • 5 ounces shiitake, cremini, or button mushrooms, roughly chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cups long grain white rice
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions or yellow onions
  • 2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1 cup (loosely packed) chopped arugula, watercress, or 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

* The amount of stock you use for this recipe is dependent on the type of rice you are using, and the cooking directions on the package of rice. For example, if your rice calls for 1 3/4 cups of liquid for 1 cup of rice, then use 3 1/2 cups of stock/water for the 2 cups of rice that this recipe calls for.



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