Basmati Party

As a kid, basmati rice would always be on the table any time my dad made one of his Greek style goulashes. I would constantly be checking the inventory in anticipation of making rice pudding (in the blender!) with any leftover rice. In honor of my family and rice (and sponsor!) I threw a three course rice themed dinner party featuring American grown basmati rice. My husband, JT, and I are leaving California in a few days and relocating to Pennsylvania for a job, so this gathering was part of a goodbye to our SoCal family. 

Phyllo Arancini Bundles

One of my favorite appetizers in arancini - fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs usually filled with mozzarella. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used phyllo dough, securing the top with a chive rope. These balls (ok, more like bundles) were served on a bed up greens tossed with white truffle oil and toasted walnuts. The bundles shattered through with a fork revealing a creamy, cheesy, aromatic rice and an molten mozzarella center. I also made a dairy free version for my cousin using olive oil on the layers, and soy mozzarella.

Greek Paella with loukaniko and ouzo

Paella. It was due time that I tried my hand at paella, and since there were 10 of us for dinner, it would be a perfect big festive dish to serve many. Going with the Greek twist on this rice dinner party, I used orange peel flecked loukaniko sausage and tons of tomatoes. A heavy hand of ouzo was used to spike and deglaze this Valencian speciality, resulting in an extremely fragrant dish. I made two pans so each side of the table could have as much as they wanted. 

Rizogalo Ice Cream

For dessert, I had to make rice pudding, or rizolago (Greek style rice pudding), but turned it into an ice cream for an extra special treat. The rice pudding itself was inspired by Peter of Kalofagas, as I used Metaxa (Greek brandy) soaked raisins and then added additional Metaxa to increase the depth of flavor the ice cream. Everyone loved this sweet ending - it was extremely creamy and delicate, definitely surpassing the blender rice puddings I made as a child.

This post is part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker program with Rice Select.

This post is brought to you by RiceSelect.

As a kid, basmati rice would always be on the table any time my dad made one of his Greek style goulashes. I would constantly be checking the inventory in anticipation of making rice pudding (in the blender!) with any leftover rice. In honor of my family and rice (and sponsor!) I threw a three course rice themed dinner party featuring American grown basmati rice. My husband, JT, and I are leaving California in a few days and relocating to Pennsylvania for a job, so this gathering was part of a goodbye to our SoCal family. 

Phyllo Arancini Bundles

One of my favorite appetizers in arancini - fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs usually filled with mozzarella. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used phyllo dough, securing the top with a chive rope. These balls (ok, more like bundles) were served on a bed up greens tossed with white truffle oil and toasted walnuts. The bundles shattered through with a fork revealing a creamy, cheesy, aromatic rice and an molten mozzarella center. I also made a dairy free version for my cousin using olive oil on the layers, and soy mozzarella.

Greek Paella with loukaniko and ouzo

Paella. It was due time that I tried my hand at paella, and since there were 10 of us for dinner, it would be a perfect big festive dish to serve many. Going with the Greek twist on this rice dinner party, I used orange peel flecked loukaniko sausage and tons of tomatoes. A heavy hand of ouzo was used to spike and deglaze this Valencian speciality, resulting in an extremely fragrant dish. I made two pans so each side of the table could have as much as they wanted. 

Rizogalo Ice Cream

For dessert, I had to make rice pudding, or rizolago (Greek style rice pudding), but turned it into an ice cream for an extra special treat. The rice pudding itself was inspired by Peter of Kalofagas, as I used Metaxa (Greek brandy) soaked raisins and then added additional Metaxa to increase the depth of flavor the ice cream. Everyone loved this sweet ending - it was extremely creamy and delicate, definitely surpassing the blender rice puddings I made as a child.

This post is part of the DailyBuzz Food Tastemaker program with Rice Select.

This post is brought to you by RiceSelect.