Daily Loaf

Your Creative Loafing food contributors, GNATV and Katie Machol, joined forces to bring you this entertaining video tutorial on how to prepare “Fiesta Mac n’ Cheese” in a rice cooker. This easy recipe can be prepared in a jiffy just using a rice cooker. A little late for Cinco de Mayo, but a fun and tasty dish for any time of the year!

(Video and recipe after the jump)

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Every ethnic cuisine has their form of a one pot, rice-based dish that usually includes some form of meat and/or seafood with vegetables. One of my favorite versions of this is Spanish paella. Paella is traditionally made in a large pan called a “paellera” (go figure) with short- or medium-grain rice given its characteristic yellow color from saffron threads, as well as its distinct flavor. Paella varies from region to region in Spain, with the coastal areas including mostly seafood in theirs, such as mussels, clams and shrimp. Other versions feature Spanish dry chorizo and even snails. While traditional versions of paella are absolutely wonderful (definitely a must-try ethnic dish), I am hardly a traditionalist.

First of all, I didn’t feel like slaving over a hot stove to make my paella and I hadn’t used my fabulous rice cooker in ages, so I busted that bad boy out and got to work. I know I’ve already raved about all of the amazing things a rice cooker can do in a short amount of time, but I feel I must again and pay homage to my dear friend and kitchen appliance. Did I also mention it can cook rice perfectly? Read the rest of this entry »

The rice cooker was a lifesaver when making sushi in culinary school (and that’s about the only time we were allowed to use a household appliance). I found it to be useful because cooking rice perfectly on the stove is not as easy as one would think (and I’m not talking about the boil-in-bag kind). Outside of class, those cookers are convenient if you eat rice frequently, but never suited my personal cooking needs, or piqued my interest. Until I was shown the way, at least.

I was scrolling through my Google feed — packed with various food blog posts — and stumbled upon an article about rice cookers from the New York Times. What’s this?! Not only can it cook perfect rice, but it can steam, bake, saute, braise, simmer, poach and more? Read the rest of this entry »