Simple recipe for an empty pantry.
1/2 cup rice
1/4 to 1/2 cup broken up spaghetti or use fideo needle from Mexico
Butter
Chopped fine Onion (I cheat and grate it)
Chopped garlic or sliced (crispy brown garlic slices are heaven!)
Better than Bullion or other stock base/cubes(blech to cubes, salt and more salt)
Melt butter in a sauce pan and brown the pasta, rice and onion, add the garlic right at the end to keep from burning.
When pasta is browned, garlic is toasty brown(do NOT burn the garlic, if you do start over!) add water to equal about 3 times the level of the pasta and rice, may need to add a bit more as it cooks. This one is very hard to judge as a measurement because drier rice and pasta soaks up more water. Add your flavor of choice of stock base/cube to taste, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Check liquid level and stir/add more water if needed. Cover again and finish cooking until rice is done.
That is a side dish, to make it a main dish add cooked protein of choice at the end and warm it through. Saved base recipe the next day can be turned into "fried rice" by adding frozen veg, a little soy sauce, couple drops of fish sauce and pan frying.
Good recipe to stretch an empty pantry!
