Rice Pilaf

The Hitching Post
@ericdiesel / Instagram

I got one of my first great, but pleasant, surprises about California living the first time I sat down to dinner at The Hitching Post. It was Friday evening in Buellton, California, which anyone who's experienced it will tell you is one of the most magical times and places there is, as endemic to California as surf and vine. I, at the time a hard-boiled New Yorker who hadn't been on a proper vacation in over a decade, had just seen the Pacific Ocean for the first time, via the unimpeachable introduction of driving alongside it during the two-hour car trip from Los Angeles.

Gravel crunched under our feet as we crossed the parking lot towards the famous neon sign that defines the night sky of Route 246. The building looked ramshackle, homespun, with clapboard siding and tangles of wildflowers. A wooden door, as western as a stagecoach, opened into a vestibule crowded with the Friday Night rush. Cowboys in clean shirts clustered over whisky at the bar or waited with western stillness as their wives spoke with the hostess. Local is relative in the Santa Ynez Valley; rich ladies from Santa Barbara twinkled diamonds, workaday folk from Santa Maria pored over menus handed out to pass the time and whet the appetite. Sideways tourists from as far as Europe and Asia and as close as LA, like us, flashed cameras (guilty). Through the arch we glimpsed the twin dining rooms, bustling with wait staff in starched white shirts, and smelled the heady smoke of red oak, over which Central Coast steaks are raised and lowered on a cast iron grate.

That was seven years ago, and as with many Angelenos, we have adopted and been adopted by the Santa Ynez Valley as our home away from home. We have since had many marvelous meals at The Hitching Post and expect to have many more, as our go-to for birthday celebrations, as our reward at the end of the drive. But that night back then, my first experience of The Hitching Post as the gateway to my first weekend in the SYV, uncovered what I hadn't known was hidden or even that it existed, made manifest amid red smoke, wine glasses, flowered china. After twenty-five years a New Yorker, I was ready for California. 

Then as now, sitting in that dining room on Friday night, its din of conviviality a mingle of voices from winery to ranch, vacation condo to gated community, felt so right as to be elemental to my being. I still remember the meal, indeed the entire evening, step by step. Tasting movie-famous Pinot Noir from a balloon glass etched with the HP logo. John's secret smile of delight upon being served a shrimp cocktail in a pewter cup, as tinhorn as loose slot in Vegas. Being served smoky Santa Maria salsa as the condiment for my steak. And, alongside it, where I was used to a puffy baked potato or a creamy gratin, a scoop of rice pilaf.

I've since learned that serving rice pilaf with steak is as common to the western steakhouse experience as the relish tray waiting on the table. I'm not sure if knickerbockers moved away from the practice or if cowboys just moved away from knickerbockers, but rice pilaf is the west's steak dinner starchy side. One clue may come from the Harvey Houses, those historic steakhouses waiting at railroad stations along the westward ho, where travelers were treated to what can genuinely be termed western hospitality. Along with the manly slabs of beef that have always meant the good life, the Harvey Houses were known for their Italian dishes, notably risotto.

On the American Table, rice pilaf is an evolution of a dish common to much of the world's cooking, including Indian, Middle Eastern, and Native American. It was a mainstay of the encyclopedic cookbooks with which American wives set-up housekeeping during the American century, both in homage to the melting pot and in usage of it. In our urban home, we have long since switched to rice pilaf on steak night, as well as to accompany roasted pork or chicken. Here is my original recipe for rice pilaf, developed in tribute to the western steakhouse but with no claims to any of those recipes. For that, you'll just have to experience the magic of Friday night at The Hitching Post.

Rice Pilaf
This recipe makes enough to serve two as a generous side dish; it can be doubled. Basmati should be a staple grain in your pantry.

½ cup rice, Basmati
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, peeled, pithed, and minced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus extra if needed
1-1/4 cups chicken stock, plus extra if needed
1 tablespoon pilaf seasoning (see below)
Salt
Black pepper
½ recipe cooked brown rice (click here)

1. Place a medium saucepan on the stovetop. Place 1 tablespoon butter into the pan.
2. Turn the heat to low. As the butter melts and begins to foam, add the minced shallot and garlic to the pan.
3. Use a silicon spatula or wooden spoon to stir the shallot / garlic in the hot butter until the shallots are translucent and the garlic has released its fragrance, approximately 1 minute.
4. Add a bit more butter to the pan if the mixture is running dry. Measure the Basmati rice into the pan. Use silicon spatula / spoon to stir the mixture together, until the rice grains are coated and begin to smell toasty, approximately 1 minute.
5. Measure ½ tablespoon pilaf seasoning into the pan. Add a pinch of salt and several grindings of fresh black pepper into the pan. Stir the mixture together.
6. Slowly pour 1 cup stock into the pan, gently stirring the rice mixture as you pour the stock.
7. Cover the pan. Cook the rice undisturbed on low heat for 15 minutes.
8. After 15 minutes, remove the lid from the pan and check the rice. It should be fluffy and fragrant with the liquid absorbed. If it needs a few minutes more cooking time, add ¼ cup stock to the pan, stir the mixture, and cover the pan. Cook for 5 minutes longer.
9. Check the mixture at 5 minute intervals, keeping the mixture moist until the rice is cooked well.
10. Once the Basmati is cooked well, turn off the heat. Transfer the Basmati mixture to the cooker containing the brown rice, along with the remaining ½ tablespoon pilaf seasoning and enough chicken stock to keep the mixture moist.
11. Stir the pilaf together. Keep warm in the rice cooker on the WARM setting until ready to serve.

Rice Pilaf with Almonds and Leeks. Substitute 2 tablespoons chopped, rinsed leek (white to pale green part only) for the shallot. Before serving, stir through 2 – 3 tablespoons slivered almonds, briefly toasted in a dry pan over medium heat.
Rice Pilaf with Onions and Carrots. Saute ¼ cup each chopped yellow onion and cubed carrot in butter with a pinch of salt until fragrant and soft, approximately 5 minutes. Omit shallot and add onion-carrot mixture to the Basmati mixture along with the chicken stock. Omit pilaf seasoning and substitute 1 teaspoon Herbes des Provence.

Pilaf Seasoning
2 tablespoons dried leeks
2 tablespoons dried chives
1 tablespoon dried scallions
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons black onion seeds
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary blades

Mix ingredients together and store in airtight jar.

Resources

Wild Rice with Currants and Ramps

Risotto

Rice Pudding