The Recipe Redux is a group of like-minded food bloggers whose mission is to inspire the food lover in every healthy eater and inspire the healthy eater in every food lover. Each month members post recipes to their blogs following a theme set by the group moderators. Links to all Recipe Redux posts appear at the bottom of this page.
This month’s Recipe Redux challenge was Grab a Book & Cook. For anyone with even a modest cookbook collection this challenge would seem pretty straight forward, but, there was a catch. We couldn’t choose any recipe we wanted. As a farewell to the year 2016 we had to pick a recipe from a page using any combination of the numbers 2 – 0 – 1 – 6. I had so much fun looking through all my cookbooks using the various page combinations and when I stumbled upon Lemon Rice I knew I had a winner. This is an unbelievably easy and tasty way to jazz up plain white rice and it only adds a couple of minutes to the usual prep time. The recipe for Lemon Rice is on page 201 of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.
Rice plays a prominent role in many people’s diets. In fact, it’s considered a staple food in a vast number of cultures and countries, providing 20% of the world’s dietary energy. Rice’s popularity stems from its availability, ease of preparation, and near universal appeal. However, the same attributes that make rice so beloved can also make it a little boring. Lemon Rice will fix that – it’s anything but boring! It’s fresh, bright flavor is a great accompaniment to seafood and chicken. I paired it with simple roasted salmon (pictured below) but next time I make it I plan to serve it with shrimp scampi – yum!
This is a great (mostly) make ahead dish. You can cook up a batch of rice ahead of time, store it in the fridge, then make Lemon Rice right before you serve dinner – so quick and easy! (You could use take-out rice in this recipe too.) Lemon Rice is my new favorite side dish and once you try it, it might just become yours too!
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 cups cooked rice (cook according to package directions)
- Juice of 2 small lemons
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 lemon, quartered
- Heat the butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet and sautée the garlic for 30 seconds.
- Spoon in the cooked rice. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest (set some aside for garnish if desired), salt, and pepper.
- Toss and stir everything until it is well combined and the rice is heated through, about 3-5 minutes.
- Garnish with lemon zest and serve with lemon quarters.
LIKE THIS RECIPE? PIN IT FOR LATER!
6 Comments on Lemon Rice