How to cook and serve white rice – Italian Cuisine

After a day of excess at the table or when the stomach is in turmoil, we resort to White rice. And we rely on pale grains, sometimes seasoned with a little oil and Parmesan, to find serenity. Cooking white rice is very easy, but with some extra care we can make this simple dish appetizing. Discover with Sale & Pepe how to cook white rice!

How to choose the rice variety

Consumed all over the world and also suitable for gluten-free diets, rice is an ancient cereal with high nutritional value. It comes from a plant known as Oryza sativa, belonging to the grass family, which grows well in watery soils (this is why the rice fields are submerged by a layer of water).

Before cooking our plate of White rice It is important to point out one aspect of this ingredient. Not all beans are the same. When you are at the supermarket and you are about to buy your box of rice, remember that the amount of starch contained in one variety is not the same as the other.

THE'starch it is released during rice cooking. To prepare a good plate of white rice, the beans must be separated and shelled from each other. For this it will be necessary to choose a type with more starch, such as fine or superfine rice, which makes the grain hard and resistant to cooking.

Many are cultivated in the world variety of rice. Those produced in Italy belong to the subspecies japonica. The indigenous varieties, easily marketed in our country, are classified into four groups: common, semi-fine, fine and superfine.

Varieties belong to the first table is Amber. Their granule is opaque, they have a low resistance to cooking and are suitable for soups and desserts. In the group of semifini there are the Rosa Marchetti, the Vialone Nano and the Venus rice. They are beans that resist cooking better and are used to prepare soups and rice balls, or delicious timbales.

They define themselves fine rice the Ribe is S. Andrea: the beans are resistant to cooking, perfect for timbales is stuffed. THE superfine they are very resistant to cooking: these are the perfect grains for white rice. So to prepare it, choose the Carnaroli, the Bold, theArborio and the Rome.

Rice in white: the variants

The classic white rice it cooks very simply. First of all, it's good wash the beans putting them in a colander. This operation will serve to clean the rice of any impurities. Then dry it with absorbent kitchen paper.

Take a pot, pour the water and heat it up. Remember that for each 100 grams of rice it would be better to use 500 ml of water. When it boils, add the salt, wait for it to melt and then throw the rice. Follow the cooking times on the package and, at the end of cooking, drain the beans.

If the excess liquid is not so much, you can keep it to make creamy your white rice. However, the tantalizing touch to this simple dish is the butter in small pieces and the Parmesan or grated parmesan. If you want to give your dish a more healthy touch, use extra virgin olive oil. You can also perfume it with aromatic herbs and lemon.

Steam cooking

The most common method for cooking rice is the lessatura. But to prepare it in white, you can also cook it steam powered. The difference between the two techniques lies in the preservation of microelements such as mineral salts and vitamins during preparation in steam.

Put the rice in the special container in the steamer, add the necessary water, together with salt, butter or oil. If you want to perfume the beans, also add spices. Let it cook for ten minutes longer than the time indicated on the package.

The result will be more sticky because the water will not be drained, but will be absorbed by the beans. If you don't like this feature, at the end of cooking you can rinse the beans under running water in a sieve.

You can steam rice even if you use one casserole: calculates the amount of water needed and leaves the lid closed until cooking is finished.

Born in Turkey and widely used throughout the Middle East, the recipe of rice Pilaf it is simple to perform and allows you to bring to the table a perfect side dish to accompany particularly spicy fish or meat seconds. The type of rice traditionally used to prepare pilaf rice is basmati Indian but, as for traditional white rice, even our super-fine beans lend themselves very well to preparation.

To prepare a savory rice Pilaf it is enough to toast it with some fried, wet it with broth and cook it, covered without ever stirring, in the oven or on the stove. The cooking will be finished when it is dry. The beans will be well detached thanks to the fat absorbed during toasting. add 2 deciliters of broth for each 100 grams of rice: the result will be perfect.

Rice with shelled valance

Also known as rice to the pilot, the rice with shelled valance it is a typical dish of the area, which is characterized by being seasoned with pork pisto, a blend of flavored mixed meats. The grain recommended in this case is that of Vialone Nano.

The proportions between water and rice they must be very precise: a 1 part and 1/2 of water corresponds 1 part of rice. After boiling the water, you can add salt, even if the pisto is particularly tasty.

Rice should be poured into boiling water, using a sheet of baking paper. The goal is to form one pyramid inside the pot: the tip of this pyramid should just come out of the water. At this point the flame should be lowered, put a cloth on the pan and place the lid on the cloth, which you will then have to bundle. Cook for 15 minutes. Have you noticed that this recipe also requires rice to be cooked through the absorption of liquids? Just like rice pilaf!

While cooking the rice, take the pork pisto, also called tastasale, and shred the meat in a pot. Cook over medium heat. Instead of this mix of flavored meats, you can use salami. Cover with a lid and cook.

When the rice is cooked, begin to shell it and then add the seasoning in the casserole. Mix and add the grana cheese. Once everything is mixed, cover the pot with a lid and let the rice absorb the flavor of the meat. Rest for 2 minutes and start serving.

Put the rice in a bowl first to shape it. Place a shallow dish on top of the cup and then rotate to unmold the rice, which will take on the appearance of one dome.

Microwave cooking

To prepare your rice in white you can also use the microwave cooking. Once you have chosen the variety of the beans, rinse them and put them in soaking for at least 20 minutes. Transfer the rice into a bowl suitable for microwave cooking, then add the water and cover with the lid of the container or film suitable for this method of preparation. There proportion between liquid and rice is 2 to 1.

Start cooking: you will need it 10 minutes. Set the power on 700 W. At the end of this time, do not open the microwave immediately, but let the rice rest for at least 5 minutes. The vapor formed in the container will finish cooking.

Cooking with the Thermomix

Bimby has included the recipe of white rice among the automatic ones, precisely because it is one of the most popular preparations. If you have the appliance at home, prepare the white rice without basket. After boiling the water for 6 minutes, Bimby asks you to put in the rice and finish cooking.

But Thermomix allows you to cook rice even with Varoma, by placing the beans in the basket. It will take 20-25 minutes. This cooking method allows you to get the perfect white rice to prepare the sushi.

Tasty white rice

To prepare the tasty white rice you will need white rice and coconut milk (in the proportion of 2 to 1), a yellow pepper, a red pepper, a shallot, a clove of garlic and a teaspoon of curry, salt and extra virgin olive oil.

Put the chopped shallot in the pan together with the yellow pepper cut into squares. After 10 minutes add the rice and mix it well. Add the coconut milk and half a glass of water, curry and very little oil, as well as a little salt. Cook over low heat. The goal is that the rice absorbs all the water.

Meanwhile, take the other pepper, cut it into pieces and cook it with a little olive oil and a clove of garlic. Whisk it after cooking. Serve the rice on the table, shaping it into molds that you have covered with film and filled with beans. Put them on the plate: you'll see that you've got some pyramids to decorate with the pepper sauce.

How to drain the rice

If you have not used a cooking technique that involves the absorption of cooking water, you will have to occupy yourself of separating the water from the beans. But the procedure is slightly different from that used for pasta. Here's how to drain the white rice.

At the end of the cooking time provided for by the variety of rice chosen, drain the beans in a colander and pass them under therunning water. This ploy is necessary to stop cooking your rice in white.

How to dress white rice

The White rice it is perfect if eaten alone or enriched with a nice handful of grated cheese. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or a knob of butter add that delicious amalgam, which embellishes this poor dish.

If used as a side dish, it is the aromatic sauces that make it tasty. Although during cooking it is possible to add aromatic herbs or spices such as i cloves to make the beans irresistible.

White rice is also the basis for tasty salads: the addition of meat and other nutritious ingredients make this dish perfect for combating the summer heat without giving up any nutrients.

Recipes with advanced rice

Nothing is thrown away in the kitchen. Advanced rice is just the starting point for preparing other tasty dishes. For example, you can prepare the rice balls, i supplì or le croquettes (maybe enriched with shrimp). Another great classic of the recovery kitchen is the rice omelette: try it also with the addition of cheese.

Back to Menfi Inycon, the oldest Sicilian wine show – Italian Cuisine

Begins Friday Inycon 2019, the oldest review of Menfi wines, to learn about the products of the vine but also to appreciate all that this wonderful land has to offer

They could only be the vestiges of ancient Greece to welcome in the territory of Menfi Inycon 2019, the oldest review of wine in Sicily. The town in the province of Agrigento, the home town of the most exciting Greek architectural memories, will live a dense moment of culture, art, wine and food, starting from Friday 21 June until Sunday 23. What better time than the summer solstice for celebrate quality viticulture but also culinary excellence, art, culture and music? In Menfi, producers, writers, artists and farmers will take turns in the three-day event to show the public the best of this lucky corner of Sicily. "The great protagonists of Inycon 2019 – explains Mayor Marilena Mauceri – will be the districts of Menfi, custodians of the tradition, hospitality and culture of these lands where peasant wisdom, developed through technological innovation, has reached levels of excellence in the wine and agri-food sectors. Inycon 2019 will be a great collective party that will see all the people of the Contrada gathered together to celebrate and share with the public beauty of this happy corner of Sicily, whose most authentic expression is represented by the peasant community, the faces of the country people and its food and wine products ".

Wine, land, sea

Wine tasting, theater performances, debates and conferences on sustainability of the reception of Menfi will be the unmissable events of this three days in which all knowing how to do this corner of Sicily will be laid bare. As stated by Nadia Curreri, Councilor for Tourism, Sport and Culture, Productive Activities and Crafts of the Municipality of Menfi “We are very proud of the program of the new edition of Inycon. After more than twenty years, in fact, the event has entered the calendar of summer Italian tourist events not to be missed, so much so as to be a powerful and effective territorial marketing tool that sees the whole community cohesive to reach a common goal: to illuminate and to make visible all the merits of the Menfitana identity and its territory ".

Virtuous example

The payoff "Memphis and the colors of his land" accompanies the logo of Inycon 2019 and contains the new vision of the event that is proposed as model of virtuous tourism and fly for the entire economy of the territory. A center to which all the virtuous actions that make Menfi and its lands an irremissible experience to live not only in the summer, but in every season of the year, converge and then radiate.

Inycon – Memphis and the colors of its land (21/23 June 2019) For the detailed program: inyconsicilia.it

The wine of the week: Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia 2015 Nino Negri – Italian Cuisine

From a cru from the sub-area of Valgella, a great red that tells the territory, focusing on elegance and the ability to challenge time

Going along the SS38, which leads from Switzerland to Lake Como, one cannot help but be enchanted by the spectacle of the Valtellina vineyards. Thousands of kilometers of dry stone walls welcome and contain the Nebbiolo grape plants, here called chiavennasca, clinging to the sides of the mountains and exposed in full South: this work by peasant engineering, developed in Roman times, has characterized the valley for over two thousand years. Walking through the vineyards is the easiest way to understand what the expression “heroic viticulture": The slopes are extreme, the works must be carried out almost always without the help of the machines, the heat in summer is hellish (not for nothing one of the sub-regions of Valtellina is called Inferno).

The most important and representative cellar of the denomination is undoubtedly the Nino Negri, inaugurated in 1897, enlarged in the sixties by Nino's son, Carlo Negri, and today owned by the Italian Wine Group. Guided for 40 years by the Trentino oenologist Casimiro Maule, "inventor" of the iconic 5-star Sfrusat wine, it is today run by the Piedmontese Danilo Drocco and produces about 800,000 bottles a year. To the 31 hectares of property there are added 120 worked by historical contributors, who go on to compose a truly impressive heritage of vineyards for the territory. But if you had to choose just one place to represent the company, you would have to reach the sub-area of Valgella, in the easternmost sector of the denomination, where the Fracia vineyard, the first purchased by the Negri family. It is a real one 10 hectare cru (of which 7 are from Nino Negri), facing south, at an altitude ranging from 350 to 500 meters. As in the rest of the Valtellina, the strong temperature changes between day and night and between winter and summer and the constant action of the Foehn alpine wind ensure the optimal environment for the maturation of the chiavennasca grape, which is harvested here in October, when it reaches a slight over-ripeness. With these grapes the Valtellina Superiore Vigneto Fracia is produced, one of the most elegant and territorial reds of Nino Negri: drunk in youth, it is able to seduce with its aromas ranging from violet to rose, to plum, enlivened by spicy notes that recall the clove, but if you have time to let it mature in the cellar for a few years, you will find yourself uncorking a magnificent wine with grace and complexity.

Why now: it is the best time to walk in the mountains and then take a break in a trattoria, sipping a local red, with robust alpine dishes.

As did: after the vinification, lasting 8 days, the wine made a passage in steel, then it was aged in second passage barriques for about 20 months. He rested another 6 months in bottle before being put on the market.

To combine with: pizzoccheri, pork loin with prunes, seasoned cheeses, grilled meats, game.

Serve it at: 16 ° C.

Price: 28 euros.

ninonegri.it

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