Cookistry

When I got the book Korean Home Cooking from Abrams books (free, because I'm participating in the Abrams Dinner Party) I was really curious. What's Korean home cooking like?

If that sounds weird, think about cookbooks you own that focus on cuisines you know well. Think about what you cook at home or what your mom made when you were a kid. There are some cookbooks that feature home cooking - those recipes you'd find at anyone's house - and then there are recipes that would only show up for holidays, or that are normally found on restaurant menus.

My mom made a few things that I thought were traditional foods, until I got older and realized that I never saw them at anyone's house, and I never saw them in restaurants. They were homey and comforting and really good, like her tomato soup or her cabbage and tomato stew.

So, anyway, I was looking forward to seeing what I'd find here. I was totally surprised to find a breaded chicken breast that would have been totally familiar to most people. It looked good, but I decided to make what is actually a very common Korean dish - juk, also known as congee. This is the kind of dish you'd make if someone wasn't feeling well, either physically or emotionally. Basically, it's a rice porridge.

If you never had congee, think of it as something like risotto, but cooked even more than that, so the rice is even softer and breaks down a little more. Totally yum.

Juk (Congee)
Adapted from Korean Home Cooking by Sohui Kim

2 cups short grain rice (sushi rice is recommended. I think Arborio would work, too)
5-6 cups anchovy stock or water (I used chicken stock)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 thick slices fresh ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon thinly sliced scallions for garnish
2-4 soy marinated eggs, poached eggs, or soft boiled eggs (optional)

Okay, I have to make a confession here. I cheated. I tossed all the congee ingredients into my rice cooker and pressed the "porridge" button and sat back and waiting until it was done. Yeah, sometimes I'm lazy, but I also know that rice cookers are ubiquitous in Korean kitchens, so I don't feel too guilty.

Here's how, if you don't have a rice cooker"

Put the rice, 5 cups of water/stock, salt, pepper, ginger, and soy sauce in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 35 minutes.

Uncover the pot, discard the ginger, and add 1 more cup of stock. Let it cook for another 10 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and the rice is soft and tender.

Serve in bowls. Sprinkle with the scallions and drizzle on more soy sauce. Add the cooked egg to each bowl, if desired.

I actually opted for TWO eggs in my bowl the second time I made this, and skipped the scallions.

Just in case you missed it, I'm getting books for free from Abrams Books, just so I can tell you all about 'em.

So ... I like rice. A lot. I like plain old white rice and Mexican-flavored rice and rice pudding and risotto and paella and fried rice. Yeah, I like rice a lot.

But ... most of my favorite rice dishes involved white rice. I know that brown rice is better for me, but I've never been that fond of it. I'll eat it, but I don't get all googly-eyed about it like I do over my favorite white rice recipes.

That all changed a while back when I figured out how to make brown rice that's actually ... well, I won't say it's exciting, because after all it's still just rice - but it's something that I look forward to eating.

It's so freakishly simple, too. It's not about how you cook the rice, because you cook it any way you normally cook rice, whether that's on the stove or in a rice cooker. Personally, I prefer my rice cooker because it's so easy.

Okay fine, you can go ahead and tell me your tried-and-true rice cooking method that's always 100 percent foolproof.

I had a foolproof method, too, until I moved to high altitude and rice became my nemesis. I decided it was a battle I wasn't willing to wage, so I bought a rice cooker. Problem solved.

So anyway, when I cook white rice, I often flavor it with Better than Bouillon's chicken base. But I wasn't that fond of it with brown rice for some reason. It just wasn't a good pairing.

Then I found the magic ingredient, again from Better than Bouillon. But this time, it's their mushroom stock. Oh heck yeah. The mushrooms enhance the earthiness of the rice while at the same time adding some richness and savoriness. It's the perfect pairing.

The rice doesn't taste particularly mushroom-y, but it definitely adds something extra. If you want mushroom-flavored rice, add more of the mushroom base - but don't get too carried away, since the Better than Bouillon also adds salt. In fact, when I use it, I often (usually) omit salt.

Sometimes I add butter or oil when I make brown rice like this. Sometimes I add a touch of saffron. Sometimes I add fresh mushrooms (crazy, right?) or I'll add frozen peas when the cooking time is done. I just stir them in and let the rice rest for a short while. They warm up, but stay bright green and they don't overcook.

To be honest, I probably won't be making brown rice without the mushroom base ... unless I run out of it. And that will probably be a white rice day.

Awfully Good Brown Rice

2 cups uncooked brown rice, rinsed
1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon mushroom base
(more or less, to taste)
Butter or oil (about a tablespoon, or to taste) optional

Cook the rice as you normally do, with the added Better than Bouillon.

Oh, and if you think the rice in the photo is a teeny bit overcooked ... perhaps it is. I've been messing around with a new appliance as well as some new brands of rice, so it's not a perfect as it could be.

This is NOT sponsored, encouraged, or nudged by any companies. and I didn't get any samples.

I'm a fiend for risotto, so of course I had to try the Sweet Pea Risotto from A Recipe for Cooking by Cal Peternell.

But then ... there were those peas. Even when peas are in season, finding them fresh is pretty much impossible. No one likes shelling peas these days, so unless you're growing peas in your garden, you're probably going to want to make a substitute here.

I used frozen peas. They're available all year long, and I always have them on hand. I like adding them to salads. I just put them on the salad as-is and they thaw almost immediately. So anyway, I just measured the frozen peas, and all was good.


I was a little surprised at the color of this risotto. I guess I expected it to be more of a bright green, but it wasn't even close to that color. I liked the flavor, but I might actually use more peas next time. I didn't happen to have any mint available, although I can see how that would be a lovely flavor with the peas. I used parsley, since it was the herb that I happened to have on hand.

Sweet Pea Risotto
Adapted from A Recipe for Cooking by Cal Peternell.

1 1/2 pounds English peas, shelled (about 1 1/2 cup, divided) - I used frozen peas
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided (or to taste)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cups Arborio or Carnaroli rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock, hot
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons thinly sliced mint leaves (I used parsley)

In a very small saucepan, combine 3/4 cup of the peas with 2 tablespoons butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and enough water to not-quite cover the peas. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook until very tender.

Pay attention to how long the peas take to cook, since this will help you figure out when to add your peas to the finished risotto. Since I like the frozen peas just barely warmed, I added them at the end of the cooking time. But, if you like your peas soft and squishy, do pay attention to the cooking time.

When the peas are done, push them through a sieve, or use a blender or other device to turn them into a puree. I used a stick blender right in the pot I cooked them in. Easy peasy.

Heat a medium skillet over high heat and add the oil and 2 more tablespoons of the butter. Add the onion and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Stir until it sizzles noisily, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring as needed, until the onions are soft. This will take 15-20 minutes.

If the onions start browning before they're soft, add a splash of water or put a lid on the pan.
Once the onions are cooked, raise the heat to medium high and add the rice along with 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook for two minutes, until the rice toasts a little, stirring often.


Add the wine, let it bubble for 30 seconds, then lower the heat and add 1 cup of the hot chicken stock. Keep the heat at a level that gives you a lively simmer, but not a boil. Stir to keep the rice from sticking.

When the liquid is nearly gone, add another cup of stock and stir often. Continue stirring and adding stock in the same way. This procedure takes about 20 minutes from the time the wine is added, so add the peas at the appropriate time so they're cooked to your liking.

Keep adding liquid and stirring until the rice is tender but still has a little bite. If you run out of stock, add water.

Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, the pureed peas, and the parmesan. (This is when I added the whole peas.) Stir energetically for 15 seconds. Taste and add salt, if needed.

Let the risotto rest, off the heat and covered, for a couple minutes for it to gather itself. Sprinkle with the mint (I used parsley) and serve.

About the book:

This book has a rather interesting organization. First, it's organized by courses, which is pretty common. But then, within courses, most are organized by season. I like to cook seasonally, as much as possible.

On the other hand, some foods are not particularly seasonal. The recipes in the "second course" section are not organized by season, which makes sense. The recipe for fish cakes didn't require any ingredients that wouldn't be available at any time of the year. Others, like lasagna, struck me as a cold-weather food, but I wouldn't turn it down at any time of the year.

The sweet pea risotto I made was considered a spring dish, which makes sense if you're planning on using fresh peas. But, since frozen are so easy to find, season didn't matter.

My suggestion is to look at recipes for your current season, but look at the others as well. Because you never know what might sound appealing.

There are a lot of appealing recipes here. The recipe instructions tend to be wordy, so they look more complicated than they are. The extra wordiness is actually useful information along with tips on what to look for as you cook - so don't be put off by recipes that span multiple pages.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.

This soup is sooo good. And so easy, particularly if you're starting from leftover, like when you buy that giant cauliflower from the farmer's market and you have a lot left.

Of course, you can steam or roast the cauliflower just for this soup.

But ... here's the other thing. You could make this with a different vegetable, or even a mix of vegetables, as long as you like them together. Which means this is great whenever you have leftovers. I'm all about finding good uses for leftovers.

The rice mix I used here was actually a new mixed grains medly from Minute Rice - they sent me samples and I've been having some fun with it. It has several types of rice along with quinoa, and is meant to be cooked as a side dish, either on the stove or in the microwave, but I figured it would be fine in this soup. And it cooks fast, which means that this soup was ready to eat really quickly.

Creamy Cauliflower Rice Soup

3-4 cups cooked cauliflower
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes, for thickening (if needed)
1 packet (about 3/4 cup uncooked) Minute Rice Multi-Grain Medly
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the cauliflower and chicken stick in a blender and puree until smooth, then transfer to a saucepan. You could also but both in a saucepan and use a stick blender to puree it.

Heat on medium heat. Add the minute rice, stir to combine, and cook until the rice is cooked through. If you prefer a thicker soup, add the instant potatoes and cook for a few more minutes.

Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. I happen to like creamy soups with a generous amount of pepper.

If you like, garnish with some chopped herbs, or a complimentary vegetable, shredded or diced. I happened to have some brussels sprouts, so I used that.

I received samples of the Minute Rice Multi-Grain Medly at no cost to me. I wasn't required to use it in a recipe, but it worked really well here. And yes, I'd buy it again. It's handy to have on hand. And I'm kind of a fiend for rice.

I adore rice pudding, and after I demolished the last batch I made, I was planning on making the same recipe again. Well, okay, maybe with some little tweaks.

But then when I looked in the fridge, I saw that I didn't have quite enough milk. But! I had a bottle of Baileys French Vanilla coffee creamer.

My first try was a supreme fail. Way too sweet. But that didn't stop me. I thought that the Baileys flavor would be perfect in rice pudding, so I fiddled with the recipe until I worked it out.

This is actually a little less sweet than my previous rice pudding, but it has nice flavor from the creamer. While I chose the French vanilla version, I'm sure this would work as well with any flavor you like - as long as you think it would work in a rice pudding.

And since I'm still working out recipes using my Instant Pot, this is a pressure cooker recipe. I'm really loving the Instant Pot ... can you tell?

Baileys Rice Pudding

1/2 cup arborio rice
1 cup Baileys French Vanilla coffee creamer
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in your Instant Pot. Put the cover on and make sure the knob is set for sealing rather than venting.

Press the porridge button and make sure the timer is set for 20 minutes. When the time is up, let it sit for 30 minutes on the "keep warm" setting, then turn the machine off and vent any remaining steam.

Stir the rice pudding well. It will look a little bit soupy, but the rice will plump up and continue to absorb liquid as it cooks.

Transfer to a storage container and refrigerate.

I received the Instant Pot through 37 Cooks for a post on the group blog. I am not obligated to continue posting about it on my blog. I'm just having fun.

I'm a huge fan of rice pudding. It's one of my favorite desserts, and it's pretty simple to make, particularly if you take advantage of the quick-cooking time of a pressure cooker.

Since I prefer my rice pudding chilled, I still have to wait for it, but at least I'm not standing at the stove stirring or waiting for it to cook for hours using a slow method.

The one disadvantage to making rice pudding in a pressure cooker is that if you use a dairy milk, the milk can form a "skin" as it cools, and then you need to either remove the skin or break it up and stir it in, if you don't mind the texture.

I actually do mind the texture.

But I've found that non-dairy milks don't cause that skin to form. Even better, non-dairy creamers add richness and flavor and sweetness, so you don't have to add a lot of extra ingredients.

This time around, I used Silk Soy Creamer, but their other creamers would work just as well - and you get to choose flavors! I got my creamer at my local Safeway store, right near the rest of the coffee creamers. If it matters to you, Silk is enrolled in or verified by the Non GMO Project's Product Verification Program.

This post is sponsored as part of a promotion for Earth Month and "Every Cart Counts" where the sponsors will buy shoppers their cart of groceries when that cart contains one of the participating products. Wouldn't that be cool to get a whole cart of groceries for free? And particularly when that cart is filled with healthy and environmentally conscious foods, which is what this promotion is about.

Anyway, back to the rice pudding. It's a lovely dessert that tastes rich but is very cost-conscious. It's wonderful as-is, or you can garnish it with a bit of whipped topping and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Rice Pudding with Silk Creamer

1/4 cup arborio rice
1 cup Silk soy creamer
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in the pot of an electric pressure cooker. Stir to combine.

Set the pressure cooker for low pressure and the timer for 15 minutes. When the time is up, let it rest for an additional 15 minutes before venting any remaining pressure.

Open the lid and stir. It might look watery at first, but the rice will plump and absorb more water after the pressure is released. It will also thicken a bit as it cools.

Transfer to a storage container and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve in pretty bowl. Top with a dollop of whipped topping if desired, and sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg, if you like.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Albertsons Safeway. The opinions and text are all mine.

I've been on a tomato kick lately. Seems like everything I make has tomatoes in it - fresh tomatoes in salad, tomato sauce in a side dish, diced tomatoes in something else. I've been craving pasta with tomato sauce, but haven't made it yet.

So, when I made some baby back ribs by starting them in my Instant Pot, I saved the resulting broth and decided I should use it to make soup. Pork stock and pork broth don't seem to be very common, but my mom ALWAYS started her tomato soup with pork stock.

So, of course ...

I made tomato soup.

In the Instant Pot.

It was sooooo easy, it was ridiculous. I mean, I'm used to soups that simmer forever on the stove, but this was done in no time. Even the rice.

You might wonder why I use evaporated milk in this recipe. There are actually two reasons. First, it's thicker and creamier than if I used regular milk. More milk, less water, basically. Second, it's less likely to curdle than regular milk.

If the milk does curdle, it's not going to kill you. It doesn't actually taste much different. But you end up with little tiny milk bits that give the soup a less-smooth texture.

Curdling happens because you're mixing milk with an acid. It's what you do on purpose when you're making something like lemon cheese or a fresh farmer's style cheese. But it's not what you want to happen when you're making tomato soup.

Make sure you're using evaporated milk, and not sweetened condensed. If you use sweetened condensed, this will probably be awful. And then you will hate me and send me strange emails about your weirdly sweet inedible soup.

Pressure Cooker Cream of Tomato Soup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled diced
1 teaspoon salt (to taste - consider whether your stock is salty or not)
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut in thin coins
1 quart stock*
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (tomato puree is also good)
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup long-grain rice (I like jasmine rice)
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk (NOT CONDENSED!)
Fresh herbs, for garnish (optional)

*I like pork stock for tomato soup, but chicken or vegetable stock is fine - homemade or your favorite store bought. In a pinch, you can use water.

Melt butter on saute setting in the Instant Pot (or other brand of electric pressure cooker). Add the onion as soon as you have it diced. Add the salt. Cook, stirring once in a while. Add the carrots as soon as you have them sliced. Continue cooking until the onions are softened and no longer have their harsh flavor.

Add the stock, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes. Stir to combine. Sprinkle the rice on top. Close the Instant Pot and set for high pressure, 15 minutes.

When the time is up, release the pressure. It will be boiling furiously. Let it cool down a bit, then pour in the evaporated milk slowly, while constantly stirring the soup. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired.

Garnish with some thinly sliced basil leaves, or other fresh herbs of your choice, if desired.

I'm a huge fan of rice pudding, and I keep fiddling around with recipes. This one is vaguely based on another one I made recently. And that recipe was based on a recipe in the Great Big Pressure Cooker Book.

I totally love that book. The best thing about it is that it gives you variations for both electric and stovetop cookers. I happen to have both types of cookers.

Sometimes I even use both pressure cookers for different things at the same time. It happens.

So, anyway, I loved that original rice pudding recipe and made it several times. But this time I decided to switch it up a bit to make it a little, um ... looser. Creamier. And since the Instant Pot has a button labeled "porridge" I decided to use that to cook the rice. Hey, might as well make it easy, right?

Very Vanilla Rice Pudding (Instant Pot recipe)

1/2 cup arborio rice
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vanilla extract (you can use less. I'm a vanilla fiend)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg

Put the rice, milk, sugar, water, vanilla extract, and salt in the Instant Pot. Put the lid on and make sure the knob is set for sealing rather than venting.

Press the "porridge" button and make sure it's set for 20 minutes. When the time is up, let it sit at the "keep warm" setting for 30 minutes, then turn off the machine and turn the knob to vent any remaining steam. Remove the cover.

Whisk the egg in a bowl. Add small ladles full of the hot rice pudding to the egg, stirring constantly. When you've added about a cup of the rice pudding to the egg and the mixture is warm, pour the egg mixture back into the Instant Pot, stirring as you add it.

Turn the Instant Pot to the saute setting and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Don't let it boil. Transfer to a storage container and allow it to cool a bit, then refrigerate.

Serve chilled with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired. A dollop of whipped cream is nice, too. Just sayin.

I received the Instant Pot through 37 Cooks for a post on the group blog. I am not obligated to continue posting about it on my blog. I'm just having fun.

I'm learning this new thing called dinner for one. It's an interesting way of cooking. Sometimes it's worthwhile or necessary to make more than one portion of something, which is great when it reheats well and I want to eat it for lunch or dinner the next day.

But sometimes one portion is exactly enough.

I had a batch of risotto that I made (adapted from the book Le French Oven, which I highly recommend) and I didn't mind having leftovers ... but then I started thinking about arancini. They're fried balls of risotto, usually stuffed with cheese. A local restaurant stuffs them with chili.

I had the leftover risotto and started looking at arancini recipes and finally decided I didn't want to deal with the fuss of making balls and stuffing them. The risotto I made had a lot of cheese in it to begin with. And I didn't have anything else on hand that I thought would be good for stuffing.

AND! The risotto had slices of mushrooms in it. Trying to work around those to make balls didn't sound like it would be fun. Another good reason for not making traditional arancini was that I didn't want to make a big batch of them. I wanted just enough for one meal, and I figured that a flat patty would be easier to fry than a few round balls.

In the end, it was a good idea, and I'll probably do this again. If I really wanted to stuff an arancini, I'd make a round ball. But otherwise, I might just do patties.

Arancini Patties

That's a salad plate - it's not a giant patty!

Risotto, cooled, enough for 1 serving
Bread crumbs
Oil, for frying
Tomato sauce, for serving, if desired

Form the chilled risotto into a patty. Coat with bread crumbs. I used panko, but I'm sure that regular bread crumbs would be just fine.

Add enough oil to a small saute pan so it's about 1/8 inch deep covering the bottom of the pan.

A little more or less oil is fine, you just want to make sure you're frying the patties in a layer of oil and not in a dry pan.

And yes, a small pan is better if you're making one serving, because you won't need as much oil.

When the oil is hot, gently place the prepared patty in the pan. You should hear it sizzle and bubble. You can check the heat by dipping an edge of the patty in the oil, if you're not sure.

Cook until the patty is browned on one side, flip and cook on the second side until it is browned.

Remove the patty from the pan and let it drain for a few seconds on a paper towel to remove any excess grease.

Serve hot.

It's not fancy - it's COMFORT FOOD!

It all started out with a hankering.

Now, you have to know that if you have a hankering for something, it's not going to be something highbrow. No one hankers for escargot or seared scallops. No, you hanker for tater tot casserole or hot dish or 7-layer dip.

I was thinking that I wanted that chicken with cream-of-something soup. Maybe made in the slow cooker.

So I browsed for recipes and realized that I didn't have enough slow time for the slow cooker. But then I saw recipes that cooked in the oven. Well, okay then. A storm had just rolled through, so it was cool enough to turn on the oven.

I kept one eye on the clock while I worked on a few blog things. The average cooking time for the recipes I saw was about 45 minutes in the oven and maybe a 10 minute rest. I figured I'd give myself extra time, just in case it wasn't done in time. Or if I wanted photos.

I envisioned a thin layer of melted cheese, just for the fun of it. I figured I could cook the thing covered for 40 minutes, check the chicken temperature, add just a little tiny sprinkle of cheese, and then cook for another 5 minutes uncovered to let the cheese melt and maybe crisp the top a little.

It was all going swimmingly well. I dug out the 9x13 casserole I wanted to use and found ingredients and turned on the oven to preheat. I had just bought a couple bags of a frozen mirepoix mixture - one regular (carrots, onion and celery) and one Cajun (onion, celery, and green pepper), and I figured one of those would be nice in the rice. I grabbed the regular one.

The dice on the mirepoix wasn't as small as I'd have done if I was cutting, but it was fine for this purpose. I'm not sure if I'll buy it again, though. We'll see.

And then I looked at the oven to see how the preheating was doing and glanced at the oven clock and UH OH! Somebody stole a whole hour from me.

Grrrr. I had riced mixed with soup and water in the pan and I had the mirepoix bag cut open and chicken waiting for me ... and NOW WHAT?

I really didn't want to eat dinner an hour late, and although I could have scrambled some eggs, at this point I had mixed enough that I felt like I was committed to making this recipe. And then I did the thing that I thought I'd never do. I cooked the whole danged thing in the microwave.

And ... it was actually good. I needed to adjust flavorings at the end, but the recipe below has ths corrected amounts. As far as the cooking, it was fine. Not weird at all.

Of course, if you know how to read a clock, you could make this in the oven and figure about 45 minutes of cooking time, covered, at 375 degrees.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 cup jasmine rice (or other white rice like basmati)
1 10 1/2 ounce can cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom or celery)
1 soup can full of water
1/2 teaspoon salt*
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 12 ounce bag frozen mirepoix mix (or frozen mixed vegetables)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix the rice, soup, water, salt, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, and mirepoix mix in a microwavable casserole dish. Mine was a 9x13, but a 9-inch square or round should be fine, as long as it all fits.

Cover with microwavable plastic wrap (I had one brand that tended to melt, so make sure yours is okay in the microwave) or cover with some other microwaveable cover. Cook for 10 minutes on high.

PLEASE keep in mind that microwaves vary in power, so you might need to adjust your cooking time. But this should get you close.

While the rice is cooking, cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized cubes of somewhat even size.

When the 10 minutes are up, remove the pan from the microwave carefully. Peel back the plastic wrap (or remove the lid) very carefully. Steam burns are pretty awful, so vent it away from you and make sure your hands are enclosed in mitts or are well out the way.

If you want to taste for seasoning now, you can do so. The rice will be crunchy, but you'll get an idea of what the flavor will be.

Add the chicken, stir to combine, and cover again. Microwave for another 15 minutes, stopping about midway in the cooking process to stir again. Since we're cooking in a microwave, the center portion will be less cooked than the outer portion, so consider that when stirring.

When time is up, take a peek to make sure the chicken is cooked through and the rice is no longer crunchy. Most of the liquid should be absorbed. If you prefer it saucier, stir in a little hot water. If it needs more cooking, give it another stir and let it cook for another few minutes.

Taste for seasoning, and add more salt, if desired.

Serve hot, and don't admit that you cooked this in the microwave. A sprinkle of chopped parsley or chives adds some green freshness and makes the dish a bit more festive.

*Yes, I know that chicken soup has a lot of sodium ... for soup. But it's not quite salty enough for a cup of uncooked rice, 3/4 pound of vegetables, and three chicken breasts. If you fear that this will be oversalted, omit the salt at the beginning, and taste it at the end of cooking time and adjust, if need be.

I adore tomato soup. I don't think I've ever had a tomato soup I didn't like, and that includes the stuff in the red and white cans.

But home made tomato soup is soooo much better. And it's easy. You can, of course, start with fresh tomatoes, which makes it a little more time consuming. But canned tomato products are pretty darned good, not expensive, and available in a lot of different forms, from whole to diced to crushed to sauce to puree.

When I saw a recipe for tomato soup in Cook it Slow, Cook it Fast by the Mr. Food Test Kitchen, I figured I'd give it a try. Even though it's spring, we're still having some chilly days. And today it was rainy. Perfect soup weather.

I made one (somewhat major) change to this recipe - I added half of an onion. You can leave it out, if you like, but I thought it was a good addition.

The book is all about using either a slow cooker or a pressure cooker for the recipes - two of my favorite cooking methods.

This soup uses a slow cooker. It's one of the simplest tomato soup recipes I've made, and it's also really, really rich because of the heavy cream. But that's okay. Sometimes it's good to go for something rich.

Velvety Tomato and Rice Soup
Adapted from Cook it Slow, Cook it Fast by the Mr. Food Test Kitchen

2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon sugar
1.2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
1 1/2 cups cooked white rice, warm

Combine the tomatoes, onion, sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a slow cooker, and stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.

Stir in the rice, then, while stirring continuously, add the heavy cream. Cook just until the soup is re-warmed from adding the cream, stirring as needed. Don't let it come to a boil.

Serve hot.

If you have leftovers, reheat slowly an don't let the soup come to a boil or you risk having the cream curdle in the soup.

I've been loving The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book, and I wanted to give you just one more of the 500 recipes. I was torn. Which one?

We really liked the chili a lot, but I was even more smitten with the rice pudding. I love rice in all forms, but rice pudding is one of my favorite comfort-food desserts. Many years ago, I used to buy it from a deli, and I've been yearning to recreate that recipe ever since.

The recipe in The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book comes very very close. The flavor was right, but the rice was a little undercooked for my taste when I used the recipe exactly as it was in the book,. Part of that is because I live at high altitude, but even when I adjusted for altitude, I wanted the rice just a little softer.

I also wanted the pudding to be a little looser and creamier. Again, a matter of taste. The book suggested eating this warm, but I prefer it cold, so that also affects texture.

In any case, I adapted the recipe and used a different type of rice, and ended up with this recipe.

Rice Pudding
Adapted from The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3/4 cup sushi rice
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk at room temperature
1/4 cup half-and-half

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker set to the browning function. Add the rice and stir. Cook for one minute, stirring continuously.

Add the milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and water. Keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is heated through, another minute or two.

Lock the lid onto the pot and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.

Turn the machine off (not warm - turn it off) and let it return to normal pressure naturally - about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg, egg yolk, and half-and-half together in a medium heatproof bowl.

When the pressure has reduced, remove the lid and whisk about 2 cups of the hot rice into the egg mixture, then whisk the egg-rice mixture back into the rice in the pot. Turn the rice cooker to the browning setting and continue stirring or whisking until the pudding has thickened. This should take less than a minute.

Remove the internal pot from the pressure cooker and turn the machine off. Transfer the rice pudding to a storage container and refrigerate until chilled.

Serve cold with some whipped cream or a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired.

There was a time when I preferred my cookbooks to be all-encompassing. I wanted to have one book - or maybe two or three, for variety's sake - that would have appetizers, breakfasts, main dishes, desserts, and side dishes all in one neat little package.

And while you're at it, give me a smattering of Italian, Tex-Mex, Chinese, barbecue, and pickling, too.

Those books are great for a beginning cook or for someone who doesn't have much storage space for books. But the more I cook, the more I want details. Don't just give me one recipe for enchiladas, give me a variety of styles and sauces. Don't just give me Northern Italian - let's talk about that boot, too.

So when Global Meatballs landed on my doorstep, I did a little dance. I like meatballs. I like the idea of meatballs. But to be honest, most of the time my meatballs are either Italian or they're similar to my meatloaf recipe - an all-purpose, inoffensive ball of meaty goodness in search of a sauce.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that these may be globally-inspired meatballs rather than meatballs made in each country.

But I'm fine with that. I'm also fine with the fact that not all of the meatballs are meat. There are vegetarian balls, as well. I've got beet balls bookmarked. Maybe because I love beets, but also because it's so quirky to take a round vegetable and shred it, just to turn it back into a ball.

I've made a few recipes from this book and I have a whole bunch more bookmarked, like potato balls with a ricotta cheese filling, buckwheat balls with a mushroom gravy, and a bahn mi meatball sandwich.

As you can see, the book isn't just about making a bunch of meatballs, but it's also about how to dress them up for serving.

So far, my favorite recipe is the Taco Chicken Meatballs, probably because it's not something I ever would have thought of. The meatballs are served with a tomato-salsa-spiked rice, but they're also pretty good all by themselves or stuffed into a tortilla. Think about that. Taco Chicken Meatball Tacos. It's mind-bending.

When I made these, the meat mixture was way too soft to hold together when I first mixed it, so I added more bread - not soaked this time - to get it to the right consistency. The recipe did note that you could add more bread if the milk didn't all get soaked up, so obviously there' some wiggle room in the recipe.

Extra bread or not, it was a tasty recipe. I think next time, I'll try it with turkey.

Taco Chicken Meatballs
with Red Salsa Rice
Adapted from Global Meatballs by Adelines Myers

For the Red Salsa Rice:
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
1 cup salsa
1 cup water or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Meatballs:
1 to 2 slices crustless white bread
1/4 cup milk
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin

To make the rice:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the oil and rice to a 30-quart ovenproof saucepan or Dutch oven on medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until the grains of rice turn milky white, about 5 minutes. If a little of the rice gets toasted, that's fine.

Add the salsa, water, and salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, take it off the heat, and place it in the oven. Cook for 25 minute at 350 degrees, then remove it from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes with the cover on. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

To make the meatballs:
While the rice is cooking, soak the bread and milk in a large bowl for 10 minutes, until the milk has been absorbed and the bread is mushy. If there's a puddle of milk, add more bread.

Meanwhile, saute the onion in the oil in a medium saute pan until tender.

Have a baking sheet standing by. If you like, line it with aluminum foil for easy cleanup and spray with a little oil to keep the meatballs from sticking.

Add the onions and all of the remaining meatball ingredients to the bowl with the bread. Mix well with your hands.

Form the meat mixture into approximately 2-inch balls and arrange them on the baking sheet.

When all the balls are prepared, bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. When they're done, they should reach 170 degrees on a meat thermometer.

Serve the meatballs with the rice. Garnish as desired - anything you'd use for tacos would be appropriate, like lime wedges, sour cream, or guacamole.

I received the book from the publisher at no cost to me.