Louisiana Brown Jasmine Rice and Shrimp Risotto
Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups Cajun Grain brown jasmine rice (see note)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, minced
1 acorn squash, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Directions:
1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt 2 tablespoons butter. Sauté the rice and black pepper until rice is well coated and nutty smelling, about 3 minutes. Add 2½ cups stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover tightly and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir and quickly re-cover. Continue simmering for another 20 minutes. Stir again. Turn off the heat and replace the lid. Set aside to continue steaming off the heat while preparing the rest of the dish.
2. Heat a large sauté pan (at least 5 quarts) over medium heat. Melt 4 tablespoons butter. Sauté the onions, garlic, jalapeño and squash until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup stock and the cooked rice and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer and heat thoroughly while stirring, about 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and parsley. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Serve immediately. Serves 6.
Recipe by Christine Muhlke
Adapted from Ryan Prewitt at Herbsaint in New Orleans
Note: Cajun Grain rice can be ordered at (337) 207-0966, or at cajungrainrice.com. Brown jasmine rice is also available at most health-food stores.
Photograph by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times; Food stylist: Maria Washburn.
More: Excerpt from Related New York Times' Sunday Magazine Article
Field Report - Rice Dreams in Louisiana by CHRISTINE MUHLKE (Published March 28, 2010)
When you own a 150-acre farm, having a change of heart about how you do things is a slow, costly process. When you’re a third-generation rice farmer in rural Louisiana —a state with just 23 organic farms — deciding to try to grow brown rice without pesticides or chemical fertilizers is enough to get you certified not organic, but insane. Fifteen years ago, Kurt and Karen Unkel of Kinder, La., decided the risk was worth it. “I started this because I could not see the future in conventional farming,” Kurt told me when I visited him last month. Back then, he and his brother were farming 2,000 acres. But “it got to where you could plow 100 acres and you wouldn’t find one earthworm.” As he spoke, he turned over the soil in his experimental vegetable garden, sending earthworms squirming back toward the ground. “And as I learned about the nutrition, there just wasn’t no stopping. You’re dealing with life!”