Quick dinner

I had to work late tonight, so I didn't get started cooking dinner until 8pm. Now it's 9:20 and I'm writing a blog post before I get to relax. It's a long fucking day. 

I didn't have anything thawed, and I didn't want to use my brain too much, so I made some veggies and rice with butter. It was a good choice.

I started off by mincing some fennel bulb, smashing and slicing some garlic, dicing a little bit of yellow onion, and slicing up some green onion. I used my mandolin to slice up some yellow squash, as well.

I also used my mandolin to make some zucchini "noodles." I sprinkled them with a little salt, cracked in some black pepper, and drizzled in some white wine vinegar. After mixing it all around to get everything coated, I let it sit and absorb flavor.

I guess I should note that, before I started working on the veggies, I started cooking my purple rice. I paid attention to the directions this time instead of using my $30 10-year-old rice cooker since that left it a bit undercooked last time. I brought the rice and water to a boil, stirred it, covered it, and let it simmer for 45 minutes, after which I took it off the heat and let it steam for 10 minutes before I fluffed it with a fork. Meanwhile, I did everything else.

Once the veggies were ready to go, I melted about a tablespoon and a half of butter in my pan and let it brown just a little bit. I added in the fennel, onion, and garlic, and sautéed all of that until they were starting to brown on the edges a little bit, then I added my squash.

I seasoned everything with some salt and pepper and just kept it cooking at a medium-low temp until the squash got good and softened up. I still had plenty of time left on the rice, so I added a little white wine and another half tablespoon of butter to the pan, as well.

Once the wine had cooked down a little, I turned the heat to low and just let everything keep caramelizing together until the rice was finally finished. Once

For plating, I put my 3" PVC into the center of my plate and spooned in a somewhat thin layer of rice. I did my best to tamp it down, but I was also trying to hurry the fuck up because I was hungry as hell.

After the rice, I added a thin layer of the zucchini noodles and tried to spread them as well as possible. In the future, I'll want a thicker layer here, as you'll soon see.

After the zucchini was another thin layer of rice. It was easier to tamp down this one. Go me.

I then spooned on some of the squash/onion/fennel mix and once again tried to spread it all around. Once I thought it looked pretty good, I added a few pieces of green onion and removed the pipe.

Like I said, that zucchini layer needed some more oomph, but everything else looked pretty good. I'm definitely getting better at stacking things a bit more quickly, but I do need to plan my layers out a bit more. I thought it looked a little bit like a birthday cake, and the anise aroma from the fennel definitely got my brain expecting something a bit sweeter; that was a mistake on my brain's part. 

The whole grain earthiness of the rice, the vinegar punch of the zucchini, and the slightly sweet yet savory finish of the squash mixture blended very well. Flavor-wise, this is probably one of the most balanced meals I've cooked. Nothing really stood out too much about it, though. It was good, and I'd eat it again, but it definitely needs some work. Unfortunately, purple rice is a bit too pricey for me to buy it often, but maybe someday...