Saffron Rice with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts - An Edible Mosaic Party! - Bev Cooks (2024)

Cuz ya gotta have Faith-a, Faith-a, Faith-ah!

Do you know Faith Gorsky? The cutie patootie behind An Edible Mosaic? Of course you do. It’s all that cuteness I tell you.

Weeeeeell, today is one for the books for her (hardy HAAARRRRR, oh.) BECAUSE, look at the next photo.

That’s her brand spickity spankin’ new cookbook! And its official release date is today. Eeeee!

And no, SHE is not the edible mosaic, you guys. Although I’m sure her husband would disagree YA KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN’.

So basically, Faith got hitched and moved to the Middle East with her hubby beau for a few months and fell in love with all that cool culture and cuisine. And THEN learned all the culinary tricks of the trade from her in-laws over there. And THEN brought it back here to show us! Makes me about 700 shades of green just imagining it. All those spices, all that color, all those pine nuts! I can’t wait for our next trip when she takes me and doesn’t know it and then finds me like a creepster in her vanity bag foaming at the mouth.

So today, to celebrate her book’s release, she’s hosting an enormous virtual party with 247 billion other bloggers! Now that’s a lot of pine nuts.

We all made her saffron rice with golden raisins and pine nuts and can I just say that I wish I could have run around the room with a scent net, trapping all those slap-ya-mama smells, melting them down in some cool cauldron type thing, bottling the magic potion, and then pouring it into my nose holes every hour for the rest of my life? Can I just say that?

Okay so here are a couple of eempartant details fer ya, which I did not write so don’t throw me in jail:

· An Edible Mosaic: Middle Eastern Fare with Extraordinary Flair by Faith Gorsky

· The book has over 100 Middle Eastern recipes, with a focus mainly on dishes from the Levant, but also a few recipes from other areas of the Middle East.

· The book is available to order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (For your reference, the links are: Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/An-Edible-Mosaic-Eastern-Extraordinary/dp/0804842760/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333475299&sr=8-1) and Barnes & Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/an-edible-mosaic-faith-gorsky/1110912770).

GO GET IT ALREADY. <—– I wrote that part though.

I wanna be mosaic. Ugh.

Saffron Rice with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts – (This is straight from the book! I wrote nothing. Don’t throw me in jail again.)
ROZ MLOW’WAN

Recipe courtesy of An Edible Mosaic: Middle Eastern Fare with Extraordinary Flair by Faith Gorsky (Tuttle Publishing; Nov. 2012); reprinted with permission.

Serves 4 to 6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes, plus 15 minutes to let the rice sit after cooking

1½ cups (325 g) basmati rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 onion, finely diced
4 tablespoons sultanas (golden raisins)
1¾ cups (425 ml) boiling water
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon saffron threads (or ½ teaspoon turmeric)

• Soak the rice in tepid water for 10 minutes; drain. While the rice is soaking, put half a kettle of water on to boil.
• Add the oil to a medium, thick-bottomed lidded saucepan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook until golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer the pine nuts to a small bowl and set aside.
• Add the onion to the saucepan you cooked the pine nuts in, and cook until softened and just starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the rice and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the sultanas, boiling water, salt, and saffron (or turmeric), turn the heat up to high, and bring it to a rolling boil.
• Give the rice a stir, then cover the saucepan, turn the heat down to very low, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes (do not open the lid during this time). Turn the heat off and let the rice sit (covered) 15 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
• Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts on top; serve.

OPTIONAL Add two pods of cardamom, two whole cloves, and one 2-inch (5 cm) piece of cinnamon stick at the same time that you add the rice.

VARIATION
Mixed White and Yellow Rice

Serves 4 to 6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes, plus 15 minutes to let the rice sit after cooking

1½ cups (325 g) uncooked basmati rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
2 pods cardamom, cracked open
2 whole peppercorns
¾ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups (425 ml) boiling water
1-2 pinches saffron threads or ½ teaspoon turmeric dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

• Soak the rice in tepid water for 10 minutes; drain. While the rice is soaking, put half a kettle of water on to boil.
• Add the oil to a medium, thick-bottomed lidded saucepan, cover and place over moderately high heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the rice, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom pods, peppercorns, and salt, and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the boiling water to the rice, turn heat up to high, and bring it to a rolling boil. Give it a stir, cover the pot, turn heat down to very low, and cook 10 minutes (don’t open the lid during this time).
• After the rice is cooked, let the pot sit with the lid on for 15 minutes, then fluff the rice with a fork. Transfer 1/3 of the rice to a separate bowl.
• Stir the saffron or turmeric-colored water into 1/3 of the rice (the rice will turn yellow). Mix together the yellow rice and white rice; serve.

Congratulations, Faith! I swear I won’t make too much of a mess in your vanity bag and WHY am I calling it vanity bag.