Brisket & Wine Lovers Spanish Rice

Rhett and his family (Madison’s family) were in for the long weekend and he always wants one meal of BBQ, so we decided on a brisket.  We discussed several side items and settled on slaw and a rice/pasta dish.  We’d recently posted about enjoying Wine Lovers Rice using the recipe from Kathy at A Spoonful Of Thyme and wanted to use it again but with a southwestern flair.  We opted to use Mary’s Spanish Rice recipe from Bare Feet In The Kitchen to come up with the following adapted recipe:

Wine Lovers Spanish Rice

For the rice:

4 T. butter

1 C. long grain white rice

1 C. vermicelli, broken into ½ - 1 inch pieces

4 C. hot chicken broth (homemade)

1 C. dry white wine (Pinot Grigio)

Melt the butter in a large pan and sauté the rice and vermicelli until browned a little (the pasta browned but the rice did not).  When browned, stir in the hot chicken broth and wine. When it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

For the sauce:

2 T. butter

1 large yellow onion, diced
10 oz. can green chiles, diced if whole

6 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz. home canned chopped tomatoes, 4oz liquid poured off

1½ T. Aleppo chile powder

1 T. cumin

1 T. smoked paprika

S&P to taste

Melt the butter in the hot skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and chiles and saute until the onion is translucent and slightly browned, approximately 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic, toss to saute and cook about a minute longer. Stir in the tomatoes and spices and bring to a low boil then reduce heat, cover with lid and simmer for 10 -15 minutes.

Add the cooked rice/pasta mixture to the tomato sauce and stir well to combine thoroughly.  Serve immediately or turn off heat and cover with lid to keep warm.

I sliced the brisket and poured a little of the juice over it.

Bev made the slaw by chopping the following in the food processor:

5" head abbage, 1 small carrot,  1 T. chopped onion, 3 radishes, 1/3 green pepper, 1 stalk celery, 1 green onion.

The sauce began with Marketside Cole Slaw Dressing (from Walmart) and was doctored with red wine vinegar, about 2T. mayonaise, and celery salt (all to taste) .

This is my plate of good eats.

The brisket was good but not quite as tender as I normally like – it could have used another 5* of internal temperature.  I really liked the rice as the Aleppo gave it the right heat for me (Bev still added crushed red pepper to hers) but you must like cumin to use this much – next time (and there will be a next time) I think I’ll use half the amount to start, then adjust, or it can be omitted if you are not a fan (the others thought it was fine as made).  Rhett commented that the slaw was his favorite part of the meal and I agree, it was some of Bev's best.

I'm now responding to your comments and hoping you will stop back by - photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/20/13 meal date