Oven baked rice

I've made the switch to brown rice; it's so much better for you. The only problem (if you want to call it that) is that it takes a while to cook compared to traditional white rice. So I've been looking around for recipes to find different ways to cook it. I have a tendency to either burn things or boil things over when cooking on the stove top especially. So crock pot and oven are great alternatives. Last week I made a pork chops and rice recipe in the crock pot, it was yummy. But the rice was - well - rice-y. You know, how it kind of sticks together sometimes? I love it when my rice isn't gummy and sticky. Even though it tastes great, it's nice sometimes to have it not stick together.

I found a different way to cook it tonight. It sounded strange to me at first, but this recipe for oven baked rice is so super yummy. It takes a good 50 minutes or more to cook brown rice, so why not put it in the oven and forget about it? (Until the timer rings, of course. Don't forget to set the timer.)

Usually when I try a recipe I try to follow the recipe exactly. The only changes I made were the pan (I used stoneware, my square baker, although I think my deep covered baker will also work great). Also I used light gray Celtic sea salt instead of Kosher salt. I boiled water in my tea kettle, then just measured the rice, butter, and salt into the stone - why mix it in another pan if I don't have to? I just poured the measured amount of water into the stone, and stirred until the butter was melted.

This rice was fantastic. I also made up some stir fry veggies and chicken to eat with it.

This recipe came from Food Network.com.

Baked Brown Rice

*Cook Time: 1 hr 5 min
*Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
* 1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
* 2 1/2 cups water
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.



Try it sometime! I'd love to hear how it turns out for you.


How do you cook *your* rice?

[Something I forgot to add when I posted this the first time is that I usually cook my rice in chicken broth, so it gives more flavor. So add some bouillon to the water and away you go!]