My life will be taking me back to NYC on a more regular basis, one week out of every 5 if all goes well. My reasons are many and good, but that’s not important here. How that affects my writing here is it gives me some juice, some much needed verve.
I hate to whine on about the have nots that I face in my small Southern city (to be fair things are improving rapidly and well), but I will admit to a lack of inspiration for me at times. I will not place all the blame on place- I’m more of a grown up than that. Art, beauty- it’s all a creation out of nothingness so I should be glad for the grist. But still…
But still, so what.
So freakin’ what.
I cook for others often, but my real mistake is not cooking more often for myself. I LOVE food. I mean I just think it’s the bomb! Do you share my feeling of potential when you enter a well stocked market? There are things that can me done here people! But I now share my life with a fairly picky eater and often dieter, and well… I’m not as able to spread my wings as much as I would like. But I will.
So now- enough of all that- here we have it. Something from more of my wheel house. My gorgeous supermarket stocks these lovely small smoked chickens (and dare I say they are not pricey either). I just adore them. Chicken chicken chicken- I how I can eat thee everyday- but man, is it exciting to have it ready to eat and so tasty! I’ll add it to pasta or top my cheese and cracker snack with a slice. It’s faboo.
After making a batch of chili for a crowd a few days ago I ended up with a rather large bowl of white rice (don’t you know the brown rice went in a flash, bravo!) I hate to waste food and so what to make of it? I thought about rice pudding, and I thought about a casserole, but this is what I came up with. A lovely pan fried cake laced with ginger, parsley and bits of diced chopped dried cherries- the perfect pairing to my smoked chicken. Tadaaaa!
This would be also stupendous in the morning with a poached egg on top, or serve these cakes alongside roasted fish etc. They take no time flat to throw together- use those bits of herbs in your bin, add a jot of cheese if you wish!
And so we have lift off. Cooking from my soul for the freakin’ heck of it. I”m jazzed.
- 1 cup cooked rice (any kind will do)
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup chopped dried cherries
- 1 large egg, beaten
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 slices smoked chicken (smoked salmon, trout, etc would also work well here)
- 1/2 avocado sliced into 8 pieces
- extra parsley to garnish
- In a medium bowl combine the rice, ginger, parsley, cherries, egg, salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Let it sit for a minute while you prepare the pan.
- Warm a large skillet over medium heat with a teaspoon of oil and swirl to cover. Add large spoonfuls of the rice mixture to create a 4"patty when tamped down to a 1/2" thickness.
- Cook gently for 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook the other side until toasted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve with two slices of avocado and chicken on top and flourish with some parsley.
- If you would like to serve these at a gathering you may make the patties in advance, not over cooking them. Before serving, gently warm them up in a pan and you're golden.
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