A side dish and a pasta dish

With all of us doing lots of grilling during these summer months I thought I’d share a side dish that goes well with simple grilled meat. I’ve made this several times and it checks off a number of things I like: it’s savory, salty and easy.

This recipe goes by many names but they are all the same. Million Dollar Rice, Stick of Butter Baked Rice and others. The first recipe I ran across was called French Onion Rice so that’s what I’m going with.

French Onion Rice

1 cup long grain rice, not instant

1 14-oz can French onion soup

1 14-oz can beef broth

1/2 cup butter, sliced

Place all in a heavy pot with a lid. Give a good stir and place into a preheated 350 degree oven for one hour. Fluff rice with a fork (never a spoon) and put the lid back on for five minutes.

Here’s a good weekend Bolognese-style pasta that will give you leftovers to bring for lunch during the week unless you have a huge family. This sauce is very forgiving and easy to make your own. Leave out the beef and double the mushrooms if you’d like to keep it vegetarian. Ground turkey would also work.

If you want to keep it alcohol free, use a cup of beef broth instead of the wine. This recipe calls for orecchiette pasta, which is shaped like little ears. But you can use the pasta of your choice.

Bolognese-style Pasta

2 tbsp olive oil

2 carrots, finely chopped

8 oz Shitake mushrooms, finely chopped

2 onions, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

Finely-chopped garlic, to taste

1 tbsp chopped rosemary

1 big pinch of kosher salt

Freshly-ground pepper, to taste

1 pound lean ground beef

1 cup red wine of your choice

1 20 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 cup water

1 pound orecchiette pasta

1 bag baby spinach

Parmesan cheese

Sauté all the vegetables until tender then add beef if using. When the beef is cooked through add the wine, tomatoes and water. Simmer for two hours. Cook pasta according to package directions. Once your sauce has simmered for two hours add the cooked pasta to the sauce along with the baby spinach and Parmesan cheese. Stir together and serve.