Rice-A-Roni (San Francisco: to buy, live in, store)

[rainroosty]

I love Rice-A-Roni and so I thought I'd drop by to talk about it! :-)
I try to buy the family size boxes of it and I make 2 boxes at a time - this fills my electric skillet up just right. I love to throw some onions in the rice and vermicelli while it is browning (I always prefer to brown it a lot!). Then after browning and adding the water (do you people add less water than they say to? I do.), and when the rice has sucked up most of the water, I love to drizzle in a few eggs, all whipped up. I got the idea from chinese fried rice - it's great!
Oh, now I'll have to cook me some today! I have a strip steak, which goes perfectly with it! Heaven! :-)
Anyone else here get excited about it? (Oh, I buy the chicken flavored! Delicious!)

[Honeycrisp]

Sounds good - along with that maybe heat up a can of chicken broth and add a beaten egg - swirl the broth and carefully drop in the egg and voila! - you'll have egg drop soup (do it carefully though or else you may get creamy chicken soup, LOL). It'll even go with your Chinese theme (then all you have to do it pick up a package of egg rolls and heat up - of course that may be cheating but what the hay!, it's a nice good meal!). If you want to forego the egg, you could always add a few noodles. And to make it nutritious, get the low-sodium chicken broth ;-)

PS You can add a few chopped scallions after heating and pouring in bowls, it'll give it a little more flavor (also makes it more colorful)

[nmnita]

Now this is a fun thread:

It depends on what I am going to use it for, how I cook it. I love to make fried rice as you mentioned, but I first cook it in my ricer (I don't brown it) then I cool it and use it for dinner. I add all the usual, scrambled eggs, green onions, peas, maybe carrots or whatever else I have plus a litte garlic and soy sause. I heat it in a heavy skillet, with a little oil. If I have left over pork or chicken, maybe shrimp I add that.

Another thing I use Rice a Rony for is rice salad. Obviously, we too love it.

Nita

[rah]

A fact that may be surprising to some people: people from SF don't eat Rice-A-Roni any more than anyone else does. I'm a native, and I've never even seen it, apart from on store shelves.

Those are some tasty sounding recipes though.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by rah

A fact that may be surprising to some people: people from SF don't eat Rice-A-Roni any more than anyone else does. I'm a native, and I've never even seen it, apart from on store shelves.

Those are some tasty sounding recipes though.

you mean that little old lady on the cable car in the 60s advertising it didn't actually live in San Francisco? Now my life is shattered for the day.

Nita

[rainroosty]

Darn - I went looking for some Rice-A-Roni and found that I had used my two good boxes, but I found two older boxes that are outdated (July 08). I don't see what can go wrong with old dry rice and vermicelli or the seasoning packet. I may cook it anyway!
Good ideas, posted above :-) I do have some low sodium chicken broth and eggs on hand.... AND I've got the onions, garlic and soy sauce!
It's nice when you get some odds & ends together and make something good out of them. Maybe I should go get some fresh Rice-A-Roni?.....nahhhh :-)
So, what's with them touting it as the "San Francisco treat"?

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by rah

A fact that may be surprising to some people: people from SF don't eat Rice-A-Roni any more than anyone else does. I'm a native, and I've never even seen it, apart from on store shelves.

Too expensive. We eat ramen and tomato soup.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by sonarrat

Too expensive. We eat ramen and tomato soup.

and I hope you are kidding.

Nita

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by nmnita

and I hope you are kidding.

Nita

Half kidding.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Here's some real fried rice:
- Obviously, rice
- Thai chilis
- Red onions (preferably the super strong type from far N. Cal or Ore)
- Smoked or grilled oysters
- Paprika
- Tumeric
- Roma tomatos
- Garlic
- Eggs
- Lime juice
- A dash of fish sauce (nam pla, or equivalent)
- A minuscule sprinkling of cinnamon

Best to have some beer to put out the fire ...