There was an unexpected perk to our vacation down at Miami Beach a few weeks ago...I discovered the deliciousness of Cuban food! We had a great trip and ate very well, which always makes a trip even better. My favorite thing was learning more about Cuban food and tasting some of the specialities.
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| Must-try simple yet utterly delicious Cuban white rice, or arroz blanco |
The first day we arrived, we caught a cab over to Versailles Restaurant, "the world's most famous Cuban restaurant" located in Little Havana, for lunch. While my husband often goes out for Cuban food for lunch with his coworkers in NYC, I was hardly familiar with the cuisine. I'm now a big fan. Cuban food is really delicious - comforting and packed with flavor without being overly spicy.
So we sampled things our friends told us we must - dishes like "vaca fritta" and "ropa viaja". We had sides of moros rice and plaintains. It was a filling meal capped off with tres leche cake (my first!) and teeny cups of cafe Cubano (super-strong, yet very sweet, espresso). Among everything that we ate, one very simple thing stood out: this amazingly delicious white rice, or "arroz blanco".
We were struck by how this plain-looking white rice that came with many of our dishes had so much flavor - slightly garlicky and very savory. Even the little guy couldn't praise it enough and since he's hardly a rice/carb lover, it's unusual. We had Cuban food a few more times at other places and each time, the arroz blanco was consistently delicious. I knew the shiny white rice had to be cooked in some oil and garlic. I couldn't really detect any particular spice. Luckily, I found out this rice is very simple to make and recipes are pretty consistent.
So yes, this post is just about this simple white rice - we won't even talk about the roasted BBQ drumsticks or bean salad I served with it for dinner because the rice was everyone's favorite part of the meal! The only thing I will say is don't cover the rice with gravy or a heavy sauce because it's so flavorful on its own that you want to be able to taste it separately.
The recipe, which I found in The Cuban Table, is simple enough. It starts with warming up a couple tablespoons of olive oil and adding a few mashed garlic cloves. Let the garlic infuse the oil with its flavor for about 2-3 minutes, then remove it. Carefully add hot water, a generous amount of salt, and a bay leaf before finally adding the rice. I think you will be amazed by how tasty a rice you end up with in about half an hour!
If you're like us, maybe brown rice has become more the staple in your house when it comes to eating rice. Even if that's the case, I urge you to give this a try...it's that tasty.
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| The simple white rice steals the show...never mind the roasted BBQ chicken or bean salad I served with dinner! |
So yes, this post is just about this simple white rice - we won't even talk about the roasted BBQ drumsticks or bean salad I served with it for dinner because the rice was everyone's favorite part of the meal! The only thing I will say is don't cover the rice with gravy or a heavy sauce because it's so flavorful on its own that you want to be able to taste it separately.
If you're like us, maybe brown rice has become more the staple in your house when it comes to eating rice. Even if that's the case, I urge you to give this a try...it's that tasty.
