Home Made “Rice a Roni”

One of the food memories from my childhood is of rice a roni, a comfort food I loved. My mum would make a pot of it up to quickly add a side dish with carbs to our meals.

As an adult, I never tried it again because it’s a packaged food and some pastas can set off my auto-immune symptoms. My mum has been reworking recipes of late to keep our family’s sodium intake lower and introduce pastas made from substances I can eat without feeling sick. One night she said she made “rice a roni” when I was over, and I said “uhhh, okay” skeptically, but it was So. Damn. Good.

This is not your packaged rice a roni. It’s creamy (thanks to the Arborio rice), nutty (thanks to the toasted pasta) and flavorful. No almonds though. My sister lost a tooth as a kid to the almonds in “Rice a Roni”.

.5 cup of Arborio rice

1 cup of broken spaghetti (you can save this from your spaghetti packages, or buy spaghetti shards)

1 box low sodium chicken stock

1 tsp Better than Bouillon (heaping tsp)

3 palmfuls of freeze dried poultry seasoning

1 pat of butter

First thing’s first- melt your butter. Then, toss your broken pasta and arborio rice into the melted butter and stir to coat. Don’t stir this constantly, maybe every thirty seconds- you want different bits of the pasta on the bottom because this is what gives the dish it’s toasty, nutty flavor.

Once you’re convinced it’s adequately toasted (it’ll smell good and toasty), pour in your box of stock, add your bouillon paste, and poultry seasoning. Stir to mix, and bring it to a boil.

After this, you bring it down to a simmer, pop the lid on your pot, and let the pasta and rice soak up the liquids while it cooks. This will take 20-30 minutes. If it seems like there’s not enough water, add hot water from your kettle to ensure all of the rice and pasta cooks. Conversely, if it seems like there’s too much “sauce”, turn the heat off and let some absorb with the lid on. Although, if you’re me, you like the extra sauce to drag your meat through 😉

What’s a nostalgic food memory that you’ve reworked to fit your needs today? Let me know in the comments.