First of all, thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments and emails concerning yesterday’s post. I am so blessed by you guys and always reminded of the incredible love of Christ through each of you. Just thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
With that in mind, I always wonder what dinner would look like if were to all gather together and enjoy a meal together. Part of me would want to tackle some really heavy-hitting recipes (lobster? boning a duck?) to impress you all with my cooking skills, but what I would probably go with are really simple and yummy dishes. Partly because I would also try to impress you with a clean house and a cute outfit, but you should just know that those things only really exist when company comes over.
But the food? The food would be classic and comforting and really easy to make because when it comes down to it that’s the kind of food I really love to cook.
I would probably do one of two things for the main course: roast a chicken because it’s the second easiest thing on the planet, or have Nate smoke some ribs because having someone else do the cooking is the first easiest thing on the planet.
Not just a hat rack my friends!
We’d probably have a big green salad because I’m obsessed with fresh produce this summer and would top it with some kind of homemade dressing. And then as another side we’d have this homemade Rice-a-Roni because even though the ingredients list is pretty short, the flavors are big big BIG. Another plus? Anyone can make this, AND you can totally mix and match the flavors to go with whatever you want to make.
I love this simple tomato version because I’ve fallen hard for caramelizing tomato paste since reading about it in Bon Appetit a while back and the flavor is incomparable. I love that it can really go with just about any main course, but holds its own even with bigger and bolder flavors. The secret to everything is making sure that you brown the onions, tomato paste and rice/pasta before really cooking it all through with chicken stock. That whole brown foods thing? Just YES – you want a piece of that!
If you were to come over for dinner the food would be simple and good and I know that we could all sit back and celebrate life together. You guys mean the world to me!
HOMEMADE RICE-A-RONI
- 2 cups white rice, rinsed
- 2 cups broken spaghetti (you really want to use regular spaghetti, not the thin kind, or else the pasta will get mushy)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 whole onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 3-1/2 cups chicken stock
Preheat a large pot over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. You want it to get fairly hot so you can caramelize everything well from the beginning! Add 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and the onion and stir to combine. Let the onion cook and caramelize over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the remaining olive oil and tomato paste and stir everything together, taking the time to caramelize with the onion and stirring constantly. The process takes about 5-10 minutes. Add the rice, pasta and garlic and stir everything together and let the rice and pasta brown for about 3-4 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover for 18-20 minutes until the liquid is gone and the rice is done. Remove from the heat and let sit for about 3-4 minutes before serving!
This looks great! Please forgive me if this is super obvious and I’ve just overlooked it – but how many servings is this? (And I am super late to the see this post but I’m really glad I found your blog.) Thanks!
Hey Jennifer! This is about 4-6 servings. So glad you like the blog!!!
Who knew that homemade rice-a-roni would be this easy? When I cook for company, I do try to be a tad bit fancy since I mainly cook for myself and rarely have people to cook for. However, I also try to keep it somewhat simple because I do all the work (and cleaning!) myself 😉
Caramelized tomato paste? I am seriously intrigued with the thought of that! This dish looks super incredible!!!
Girl it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE! I hope you like it!
Um, I LOVE Rice a Roni. Like, I can eat a whole box. So I love this recipe!
Thank you Dorothy! I can totally eat the whole thing too 😉
Oh, oh hey! This is totally happening. You’re a lovely little genius!
Haha thanks Stephie!!!
I love this kind of food, it looks really delicious !
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I never even considered making my own rice-a-roni! I love anything rice and gushy and yummy. I much prefer these things to pastas actually. Can’t wait to try it!
And just caught up on the last post so Yes–add me to your prayer team. 🙂
ALOHA
Monica, you will LOVE THIS – I hope you make it soon!
Oh.my.goodness. I really think my picky eaters will love this!!!
Yahoo!!!
HA! i had to look this up – never heard of it. . .i guess that is what happens when you dont grow up in the US 🙂
That’s so funny but makes perfect sense – we used to have it all the time growing up!
Delicious, Heather!!! Love rice and this looks awesome!!!
Ok, totally loving this and I know my family would to. My kids have become obsessed with rice lately. This looks delicious!
We go through spurts like that where we’re OBSESSED with either rice, pasta or potatoes for a whole month at a time!
Wow I can’t believe how simple this is- it looks amazing! I definitely want to try it with some veggie broth!
I bet it would be fantastic with veggie broth! You’ll have to let me know how it goes!
This is such a great idea. Sounds amazing!
Thanks Cassie!!!
NO stickin way. This is awesome!
I saw this on Instagram and immediately came here to see the recipe haha. I LOVED Rice-a-roni in college, but I don’t buy it anymore because of all the weird stuff in it! This sounds SO good! I’d probably just sub on the chicken stock for veggie broth. This would be so perfect! Pinning 🙂
Thanks Liz! I’m so glad you’re excited about it – I love the flavors and it makes it so much easier to customize too!