pilaf… sort of.

over the years as a student & regular broke person rice has been life saver. I've done everything with it including, in my more poverty stricken days, pairing plain basmati with baked beans, mushy peas and a battered fish steak (the cupboard was really really bare that day). Scarily enough i actually enjoyed it and it became a cheap regular meal as i kidded myself that the beans & mushy peas counted towards my 5 a day.
Lucky for you that is not what I'm writing about today. What I'm talking about is a yummy vegetable pilaf that I've made a few times which, although its been different every time due to it consisting of whatever been left in my fridge, is always delicious.
Pilaf is slightly different and much lighter than risotto which with the butter and cream can be quite heavy. its also cooked differently with instead of the constant stirring and gradual addition of stock you just bung it all in turn it on a low heat and allow it to bubble quietly.
one of my favourite variations included sweet potato, frozen peas & sweet onion paired with the slightly salty Bouillon vegetable stock cooked rice. Bouillon is by far my favourite stock to use and great to add into any recipe if like me you don’t like using salt as you get the intense veg flavour as well as seasoning.
I’m not going to write a recipe down for this. because I don’t have one. It literally is something that I just throw together with whatever veg i have and if the meaty mood takes me I'll either chuck in some chicken or cook off a pork chop. just follow the basic rules below and you can’t really go wrong.
1. vegetables – What Grows Together, Goes Together. seasonal veg will always mix well and similar tastes will compliment each other.
2. Unlike risotto don’t stir too much. Over stirring releases the starch and creates a stodginess you don’t want. Just keep it at a gentle heat and let it be.
3. Keep it simple. too many different flavours just kill off any clean tastes you’re looking for. less is more.
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Meatloaf

 I attempted this classic American dish the other day. It was fairly disastrous I'm going to admit. I definitely need to practise it and try and get the balance right. My problem is I'm afraid of over flavouring food so I completely underused my herbs and my quantities were all wrong hence it just turned into an eggy meaty bready mess.
I'm not going to give you a recipe because frankly I don't want to inflict that on anyone else. maybe I'll return to it in the future... maybe.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis