French Fridays with Dorie: Cardamom Rice Pilaf
This month, the recipes for French Fridays with Dorie have been a little bit involved to make. Certainly, they were all winners, and a couple turned out to be among my overall favorites so far. The final recipe for May was a welcome change. A dead easy side dish: Cardamom Rice Pilaf.
There really isn’t much to say about this recipe, so this is a boring post. I’m really a plain steamed rice kind of girl. Occasionally, I’ll sauté an onion when I’m making couscous, but not usually for rice. I tried it, and I liked it. I used basmati rice, as suggested. I always like the fragrant character of basmati rice. And I didn’t add the lemon zest, but I did stir in a handful of toasted sliced almonds. An easy and elegant side dish. I served it alongside some grilled pork chops, but it would go with chicken, fish, or almost anything.
We don’t post the recipes, but consider getting your own copy of the book, Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. I always enjoy checking out what my fellow FFwD bloggers thought about this week’s recipe. The simpler the recipe, the more interesting the variations. Check out their links at French Fridays with Dorie.
Posted on 27 May 2011, in French Fridays with Dorie and tagged French Fridays with Dorie, rice. Bookmark the permalink. 17 Comments.
A Plateful of Happiness 
I agree…so nice to have a simple challenge this week! Happy weekend :)
It really was incredibly easy! For some reason I avoid making rice (I’m convinced it will turn out gluggy) so the kids were incredibly excited to eat this week’s recipe!
We all thought it tasted pretty nice.
Same boat! Plain steamed rice girl myself!
I really liked that you added almonds. I also enjoyed the easy side dish for a change. May was intense!
Oooh, I love that you added almonds. I bet it was delicious! :)
Easy is a lovely thing! Glad it worked out for you.
Have a great holiday.
It was nice that this was such an easy dish to prepare. I really like the idea of the almonds, Betsy.
I am with you (as is Nana :) that we were pleased it was so simple. We still were not expecting the results to be this yummy. I am not sure why, after all these weeks….I am still have any doubts about results – we have winner after winner :)
It is nice to have something uncomplicated sometimes! I’m more of a plain rice gal too, but glad that you enjoyed this.
I can see you like cookbooks as much as me! I enjoyed the simplicity as this dish as well. Nice flavor boost to add to weeknight meals. Looking forward to more FFWD!
Had to write back after reading your note about going to DC. I was busy leading up to the trip and didn’t get my homework done to find awesome places to visit at night. Got lucky with Hill’s Kitchen and it is across from a metro stop so I could make it there before it closed (thought it closed at 6 or so but believe the sign said 7). The metro stop was “Eastern Market”. I asked the owner of Hill’s Kitchen if there was anywhere nearby I could get a sandwich for a lite dinner and she recommended a great brick oven yuppie pizzeria across the street. Not cheap but fabulous. 7th Hill http://www.montmartredc.com/seventhhill/ It was created by folks who had a too fancy for what I was looking for french restaurant. And a block away was the lovely Eastern Market itself. http://www.easternmarket-dc.org/ But what I am REALLY sorry that I missed is that there is a new Flagship bakery of the famous Paris bakery “Paul” that literally just opened. I am SO going back to that one the next time I am in DC. Nana and I had checked out PAUL in Paris and I am so bummed I missed this. Hmmm- maybe we should just go back to Paris :) Enjoy !!
http://www.paul-usa.com/
Hi Betsy, I like a simple recipe. they are really the best. I just couldn’t resist using the cardamom rice as a side dish with another one of Dorie’s recipes. I agree we covered a lot of ground this month and ending up on a simpler note was welcome;-)
Your rice looks great, Betsy! And what an excellent idea to add almonds.
This would have been great with pork chops – very nice.
Almonds would be a great addition! I didn’t have too much to say about this easy side dish either, but we all liked it a lot.
Almonds, what a great idea. Bet they were yummy. I did like ending the month with an easier recipe.
I agree that this one was a “dead easy” recipe. Love your addition of almonds.