Riz Pilaff à la Turque

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •2-quart oven-safe saucepan or sauté pan with a tight-fitting lid
• •Small heatproof bowl
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Two forks

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the concassé

   Score a shallow cross in the base of the tomato and cover it with boiling water in a heatproof bowl. After 30 to 45 seconds, cool it under cold water and slip off the skin. Core the tomato and make a tomate concassée, a peeled and roughly chopped tomato. Measure 1/2 cup (120 ml / 92 g), then leave it in a sieve while the rice cooks so loose juice cannot make the finished pilaff wet.

   Concassed means roughly chopped, not minced. Pieces about the size of a small bean remain visible and warm through without disappearing into the rice.
2. 2

   Colour the pilaff

   Begin the Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) according to its own entry. At the moment its cooking liquid has been added, crush the saffron threads between your fingertips and scatter them across the liquid. Stir once to distribute the colour, then cover and complete the linked method. Saffron needs the wet cooking phase to travel through every grain. If one orange clump remains before the pan is covered, tip the pan gently in several directions instead of raking through the rice; ça se rattrape, and the moving liquid will carry the colour.

3. 3

   Stop the cooking

   When the Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) is tender and its liquid has been absorbed, remove the pan from the oven and set it on a cool trivet. Uncover it promptly and loosen the grains with two forks. The original transfers the rice to another saucepan to halt carryover cooking during service; a cool surface and an uncovered pan do the same work at home. If the grains remain chalky and the pan is dry, sprinkle 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) hot water around the edge, cover, and return it to the gentle oven for 5 minutes. If the rice is slightly wet, leave it uncovered in the turned-off oven for 3 minutes.

4. 4

   Fold in tomato

   Add the drained concassed tomato to the cooked pilaff and fold it through with two forks, using only three or four broad turns. Do not return the pan to active heat; the tomato should warm in the rice while keeping its fresh colour and shape. If juice gathers at the bottom, lift the pilaff into the serving dish and leave that liquid behind. Bring it to the table at once, loose, golden, and gleaming with butter. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Buy saffron as whole threads rather than anonymous yellow powder. Crush it only when the cooking liquid is ready, because its colour and perfume fade once ground.
• •In tomato season, choose a ripe tomato with firm flesh. Outside the season, use a good canned whole peeled tomato, drain it thoroughly, and concass it. An honest preserved tomato is better than a pale fresh one.
• •The tomato is folded in after cooking by design. Simmer it with the rice and its freshness disappears; add it carelessly with all its juice and the grains lose their separation.
• •Serve this beside roast chicken, veal, lamb, or a simply cooked fish. A dry white wine with enough freshness for the tomato suits it better than anything heavily oaked.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomato can be peeled, concassed, and drained up to 4 hours ahead. Keep it covered in the cold, then bring it out 20 minutes before folding it into the rice.
• •Begin the Riz Pilaff (No. 2255) close to serving so the saffron can enter during cooking and the tomato can be folded into freshly loosened grains.
• •If keeping leftovers, spread the rice in a shallow dish so it cools quickly, refrigerate within 1 hour, and use within 2 days. Reheat it once, covered, until thoroughly hot.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)