Minced red onion
Chopped Marcona almonds and pine nuts
Sautéing the nuts
Toasting the rice in the onions
Homemade chicken stock
Final mix before serving
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (water could work too)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped blanched almonds (see almonds note below)
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion (red or yellow), finely chopped
1 1/2 cups wild/brown rice blend (see rice note below)
1 cinnamon stick (not Mexican cinnamon)
salt
fresh-cracked black pepper
1/4 cup raisins (black or gold) plumped in hot water for 10 minutes
Notes:
Almonds - if you don't have pre-blanched almonds, add enough water to a saucepan that hold the almonds and bring to a boil. Add the almonds and parboil for 30-60 seconds and drain. Put the almonds into a paper towel to dry and rub vigorously enough to remove the skins.
Rice - white rice works well too. Once you add the stock to the rice, it should take about 20 minutes to finish.
Directions:
Heat the stock in a small saucepan to a simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the almonds and pine nuts in the oil, stirring constantly, until they brown but before burning. This took less than 5 minutes for me. Remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.
To the oil in the pot, add the chopped onion and cook until translucent without browning - about 10 minutes. Stir in the rice to combine with the onion and continue cooking allowing the rice to toast to a brown color without burning. Once the toasted rice is well colored and giving off a nice aroma, add the hot stock with the cinnamon stick, seasoning well with the salt and pepper. Stir well bringing it back to a boil. Reduce the heat to as low as possible, cover and allow to cook undisturbed - 20 minutes for white, 40-45 minutes for brown rice.
Once the rice has absorbed the water, remove the cinnamon stick and stir in the reserved nuts and raisins before serving.
