Riz à la Grecque

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •3-quart heavy saucepan with a tight lid
• •12-inch deep skillet or 5-quart sauté pan
• •Fork and broad serving spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the vegetables

   Keep the stock hot over low heat. Cisel the small lettuce, meaning cut it crosswise into narrow, even ribbons, much as a chaff cutter works through a bundle. Dry those ribbons well because wet lettuce floods the skillet. Leave the two inner leaves for the peas whole, chop the medium onion, trim the spring onions, and drain and dice the roasted red capsicum.

2. 2

   Cook the Pilaff

   Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy lidded saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the finely chopped half-onion and cook without browning for 3 minutes. Add the rice and nacrer it, coating and heating the grains in butter until they glisten and begin to look pearly at the edges. Pour in the hot stock, add the bay leaf and ½ teaspoon of the salt, and bring the liquid to a full simmer. Stir once, cover tightly, lower the heat as far as it will go, and cook for 18 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes, then discard the bay leaf and loosen the grains with a fork. If the rice is still firm and the pan is dry, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of hot stock, cover, and return it to the lowest heat for 5 minutes; if it is wet, leave it uncovered over low heat for 2 minutes. You want about 2 pounds of separate, tender Pilaff rice.

   Once the lid goes on, leave the rice alone. Repeated stirring releases starch, and Pilaff should carry its garnish in distinct grains rather than a sticky mass.
3. 3

   Glaze the peas

   While the rice cooks, make the peas à la Française. Put the frozen peas, spring onions, two whole lettuce leaves, 1 tablespoon of butter, the water, sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of salt in a deep skillet. Cover and hold at a gentle simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until the peas are tender and bright and the liquid has become a light buttery glaze. Lift out the lettuce leaves and spring onions. If liquid remains when the peas are tender, uncover and toss over medium heat until it clings; if the butter separates into an oily film, add a teaspoon of cold water and toss again.

4. 4

   Cook the sausage garnish

   Transfer the peas to a bowl and wipe the skillet. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, then add the chopped medium onion, the sausage meat pinched into hazelnut-sized portions, and the ciseled lettuce together, exactly as the source directs. Season with another ¼ teaspoon of salt and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, turning the sausage gently rather than crushing it, until the onion is tender, the lettuce has collapsed, and the sausage is cooked through with no pink at its centre. If the lettuce leaves a watery puddle, raise the heat briefly and let that moisture cook away before adding the rice.

5. 5

   Fold for seven minutes

   Seven or eight minutes before serving, lower the heat and fold the hot Pilaff rice into the sausage, onion, and lettuce. Add the peas à la Française and diced red capsicum, turning everything with a broad spoon so the grains stay whole. Cover loosely and warm for 7 to 8 minutes, folding once halfway through. This timing is the dish: longer cooking dulls the peas and dissolves the lettuce into the rice. If the mixture tightens, sprinkle in up to 2 tablespoons of hot stock; if it seems damp, remove the lid for the final 2 minutes. Ça se rattrape.

   The red capsicum must already be cooked. Jarred roasted pimiento is the honest home equivalent; raw pepper will still be hard when the seven-minute finish is complete.
6. 6

   Loosen and serve

   Taste and use the remaining salt only if the stock and sausage allow it. Loosen the rice once more with a fork, then spoon it generously into a warmed shallow serving dish. Its green peas, red capsicum, soft lettuce, and small sausage morsels are the finish, so scatter nothing else over the top. Serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Choose plain, fatty pork sausage meat without smoke, fennel, chile, or heavy herbs. The sausage is a quiet savory note in the rice, not the loudest person at the table.
• •Frozen peas are excellent here because they were preserved while sweet and tender. Add them straight from the freezer; a tired fresh pea is no prize, and the classical pantry understood preservation perfectly well.
• •The source measures every garnish against the finished Pilaff. This batch produces about two pounds of cooked rice, with four ounces each of sausage meat and ciseled lettuce, half an imperial pint of peas, and three ounces of red capsicum.
• •Use a deep, broad skillet for the final fold. A narrow saucepan forces you to stir downward and crush the grains; a wide pan lets you turn them gently from the bottom.

Advance Preparation

• •The Pilaff and sausage-lettuce mixture can be prepared up to 2 days ahead, cooled promptly, and refrigerated in separate covered containers. Reheat them together gently, then add the freshly glazed peas and red capsicum for the final 7 to 8 minutes.
• •Finished Riz à la Grecque keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat only the portion you need with a spoonful of stock and a small piece of butter; the peas will soften slightly, but the rice returns beautifully.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 420g)