Looking for a quick and easy side dish? I’ve got one for you.

Awhile back, I was really in the mood for an easy pilaf–sort of like the kind I grew up eating out of a box, maybe from Rice-a-Roni. I thought about what I had on hand to make such a dish.

And what I came up with has become one our family’s favorite recipes. Please note that this is a hard recipe to mess up–do you want more orzo than rice? Okay. Do you want it more soupy? Okay. Easy, easy, easy to make it how you want it.

Easy “Homemade” Rice Pilaf
original recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 a bag of wild rice mix (about 1 cup), such as Trader Joe’s Basmati Rice Medley
1/2-3/4 cup orzo pasta
1-2 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
about 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock, or bouillion cubes and water

Instructions:

Heat the butter or olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the orzo and cook while stirring until the pasta toasts and turns golden brown.  Add the wild rice mix.  Stir to coat the grains with the butter.

Add about 2 cups of the liquid to the rice/pasta. As the liquid evaporates or is absorbed, add more liquid until the rice/pasta is fully cooked.  Let it stand for a few minutes before serving.

Serve with chicken, fish, or a vegetarian main dish.
_____________________________________________________
How-To Pictures and Directions:

Heat some butter (1-2 Tbsp.) in a skillet over high heat. (You can also use olive oil, or a combo of oil and butter). Add the orzo and cook while stirring until the pasta toasts and turns brown.

(It could even get a little darker than this.)

Add the wild rice mix.

Stir to coat the grains with the butter.

Add some “stock.” (This could be organic, free-range chicken broth, or it could be a bouillon cube and water.) Have about 4 cups ready–you may not need all of it,you may need a little more.

Add 2 cups of the liquid to the rice/pasta. As the liquid evaporates or is absorbed, add more liquid until the rice/pasta is fully cooked.

Let it stand for a few minutes before serving.

We like to serve it with fish or chicken. (I can’t for the life of me remember what we served it with in the picture above? Should that scare you that I can’t tell? I’m pretty sure it was the Baked Zucchini-Tomato Tart.)