Today We're Cooking Brown Rice with Home Grown Tomato Sauce! YUMM!

I've posted once before on how to cook brown rice easily using a large stainless steel kettle with steamer insert and a Pyrex glass bowl for the rice itself. You can click here to read that post. I love this method because once the water comes to a low simmer, I can turn down the heat, set the timer, and go about my daily tasks without worrying about the rice burning or scorching. (You will need a lid for the kettle, but not for the bowl.)

Today I'm cooking brown rice this easy way and also using up garden produce that has been sitting forlornly on my kitchen counter waiting for someone to Enjoy!!! (Summer is almost over and I want to enjoy summer produce as long as I can!)

This recipe uses onion, garlic, zucchini (I can't believe I had to look up the spelling!!), baby carrots, tomatoes, fresh oregano and thyme, banana peppers, kale, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Choose whatever veggies you have on hand. Chop veggies. (Mushrooms or a bit of balsamic wine vinegar would be good additions.)

First, I sauteed the onion and baby carrots. Then because my skillet was rather small, I removed them to a dish while I sauteed everything else except the tomatoes, herbs, and cheese.

Tomatoes need to be skinned before chopping and the simple way to do that is to drop them for 30 seconds or so in simmering temp water. Cool in cold water. Then just slip the skins, cut out the core, and chop. (Fresh tomatoes from the garden will be very juicy! Use juice and all!) Add to the skillet. Put the set-aside onion/carrot combo back into the skillet along with everything except the rice and parmesan cheese. Simmer for perhaps 10 minutes.

Serve the sauce over a healthy spoonful of cooked rice. Add parmesan.

The sweet potato? I set it in the steamer alongside the bowl of rice and it was nicely done when the rice finished cooking.

In the photo with the herbs you will see that I'm using a santoku knife. While I like it's sharp cutting ability, I'm always extremely careful that the cutting edge never touches my skin. This baby is sharp! I barely skimmed my knuckle with it once and as a consequence, needed a small bandaid!! For safety sake, when I finish using it I rinse it, dry it carefully, and put it in its slot in my knife drawer. Consider this a larger version of a razor blade and handle it accordingly.

Yumm! Want some!!! My kitchen smells very, very yummy!
.