Almond And Apricot Rice

The day before yesterday I roasted a Lemon Rosemary Chicken. This rice is the perfect accompaniment to that dish. Sometimes, I eat it as it stands alone. I didn't have any homemade chicken broth left, so I bought some. Between the Rosemary Chicken and this recipe, I used exactly one 32 oz box of chicken broth.

Roughly chop and soak apricots in warm water.

Rinse rice until water runs clear. Add it with chicken broth, or water, in a medium pot on medium-high heat. 

As soon as it begins to boil, cover the pot, lower the heat to the lowest setting, and set a timer for 18 minutes. No peeking.

While the rice is cooking, heat butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add a cinnamon stick (or powdered cinnamon) to flavor the butter. A minute is long enough.

Cut in half, then thinly slice an onion. 

Add it to the saute pan.

When the onions turn soft and translucent, add almonds.

Saute until the onions and almonds turn gold. Beautiful, right?

See this dark color on the bottom of my pan? That's the jackpot where intense flavor resides. I keep a 4-pack of extremely small bottles of wine on hand. They come in handy when I don't have a larger bottle open. I use it a lot for deglazing, which is what we are going to do to this burnt-looking pan. 

While the pan is on the heat, add a splash of wine (or water, or chicken broth). Use what you need. Probably around 1/4 cup. Stir it into the bottom of the pan. It will sizzle and steam. I have found a nice sharp metal spatula works well for this. It's scrapes nicely, because more surface area is touching the pan. Help it flavor the onions and almonds by scraping that burnt-looking flavor off the bottom. A spoon will work too. 

When the bottom of your pan is deglazed, and the liquid has cooked away, drain the apricots and add to the onion mixture. 

If the rice finishes before this point, remove it from the burner, lid ON, until ready to use. At this point, fluff cooked rice with a fork and add to the fruit and vegetables. Cook another 3-4 minutes to blend the flavors. 

Salt and serve with Lemon Rosemary Chicken With Gravy. A perfect meal.

• 1 1/2 C Basmati rice
• 2 1/2 C chicken broth or water
• 1/2 C dried, roughly chopped apricots
• 2 T butter
• 1 cinnamon stick or 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/2 C slivered almonds
• a splash of wine, or if there is any leftover broth from the Lemon Rosemary Chicken recipe, use it. If you don't have either, use water