Monday, January 19, 2009

Classic Saffron Rice

My brother got me some Saffron recently from a friend who was traveling overseas. These are not the whole saffron threads, as those are way expensive, but I was excited to get these packets of the ground stuff. If you are not familiar with it, you can click here to learn more.




I wanted to make a recipe where the saffron flavor did not get lost so I decided on this simple rice dish.




All you need for this is some rice, some good stock (this is turkey stock I made at Thanksgiving and froze)




Some onion that you can grate or finely mince




I prefer the grated for this recipe.




the Saffron




and some Butter.




Get the butter melting in the pot.




Add in the onion and let it cook for just a few minutes until it is translucent.




Add in the stock, rice, salt and the saffron. Bring it to a rolling boil and then cover the pot and drop the heat to a low simmer. Let this cook for about 18-20 minutes.




Meanwhile I cooked up some asparagus under the broiler in my toaster oven. I just coated it with some olive oil and sprinkled it with salt. Broil it until it is done to your liking.




The rice ends up a gorgeous yellow and smells delicious.




The flavor of the rice is subtle but you can definitely tell it is not just plain rice, and the color is gorgeous.

6 comments:

  1. oh very interested in this recipe indeed.

    My Mother in Law visited Turkey a few years back and brought me home a packet of saffron. I was kinda over excited by it, because it is very, very expensive. My present was actually in strands, and it looked slightly "illegal", in its little packet.

    But I was pleased of course being so costly, however there seemed to be a great deal of the said "strands".

    I used it in several recipes, although not Saffron rice, and it tasted of nothing whatsoever.

    Sadly I believe my Ma In Law purchased some falsely coloured strands of something, in the mistaken opinion it was actually - saffron.

    It did not even colour the dish.

    The first recipe I used it in, was a risotto, following exactly the ingredients, feeling very smug I actually owned some saffron. Sadly, no taste, no colour.

    I have no idea, till this day, what we were actually eating!

    Thank you for publishing this recipe, I will await some real saffron before trying it though!

    Jeannie xxxx

    Happy Inaugeration Day!

    We have been watching it on tv here, amazing.

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  2. I had the most delightful saffron rice in Spain years ago... good memories - any buttery rice is awesome - this looks great

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  3. i SO want to try this, and have had Saffron on and off my Penzey's list for ages. is it worth it?

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  4. I had the same experience as Jeannie. A friend bought me some saffron threads from Spain, and it turned out in a rice dish, to be the nearest thing to nothing that is still something! I often wondered if it was old and sort of faded out.
    I'm happy yours turned out great!

    Cheers,
    Jo in MN (Stella's Mom

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  5. I meant to tell you -- B pulled out the toaster oven he has! I am so excited to try some of your toaster oven-centric recipes now!

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  6. This looks delicious. I love the beautiful color of the rice from the saffron.

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