Can green colored food look appetizing? Maybe it’s a food blogger’s dilemma.
I’m always looking for side dish recipes, especially ones that aren’t high maintenance. I’ll spend time on prepping the main part of the dinner or the dessert ( 😉 ) but by the time I get to the side dishes I have no time to spare. So let’s just say that the side dishes always get the short end of the stick in my kitchen. While this spinach and rice dish might not look like much in photos, I think it could be the recipe that you reach for time and time again. Picture the spinach filling of a spanakopita (spinach pie), add rice, and that’s what we’ve got going on here.
I intentionally left out the feta cheese (that you would normally find in the filling of spanakopita). (Who am I?) I wanted this side dish to be dairy free so that it would go with just about anything, like chicken, pork chops, salmon… you get the idea. My husband does not approve.
You can whip this up quickly and it’s very easy to make, so it makes for a great week night recipe. It’s also one of those recipes that you can add more or less of an ingredient, depending on your preferences, and it will still come out tasty. I think that’s great, especially for beginner cooks because recipes that are hard to mess up are a great place to start cooking.
I’d eat this as my main course if I was feeling like something vegetarian because the spinach has a lot of great nutrients in it and probably a side of Mediterranean salad. Also, probably a 99.9% chance that I would add feta cheese to the spinach and rice because it’s delicious and it adds great flavor. See? There are lots of ways to enjoy this green goodness.
Spinach and Rice Recipe
(2 main dish or 4 side dish servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 servings of white rice (I used 1 cup of Minute rice.)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped (equivalent to about 1/4 cup)
- 1 package (10 ounce) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
- 3/4 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
- Cook the rice according to the directions on the box and then set it aside.
- In a skillet, over low/medium heat, add the olive oil and finely chopped onion, and cook it until it’s slightly browned.
- Add the spinach, dried parsley, dried dill, salt, and pepper into the skillet and stir everything together. (Don’t forget to make sure that the spinach is thawed and squeezed dry before you get this far. I placed the thawed spinach in a colander and used paper towels to press the water out.)
- Once the spinach is heated through and the rice is done cooking, add the rice to the spinach mixture and mix everything together.
- Taste it and add additional salt, to taste.
Source: Tina’s Chic Corner
