Meatless Mondays with La Bella Figura

 
I took a little hiatus last week from posting. It was just such a busy week with finishing up business, having friends from out of town vising, and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I hope this light and tasty recipe will make up for it. In my opinion, it is the perfect light meal after days of eating heavy leftovers.

My husband, who is an avid newspaper reader, found this recipe in the Chicago Tribune a few years back. Let me just say while my husband is definitely a Renaissance man (cleans, does laundry, volunteers, and helps grocery shop), he's not what you'd call comfortable in the kitchen. Once he tried to make me spaghetti, and he put whole coriander seeds in it the sauce along with a variety of other spices he just kind of plucked from the kitchen cabinet. It made for an interesting, if albeit crunchy, spaghetti experience. He's since been on a quest to find recipes he can cook and that will appease my picky tastebuds. This recipe was a big hit the first time he made it, and it has been in rotation ever since.

The featured star in this recipe along with a healthy dose of lemon juice and lemon zest is arugula. The wonderful peppery arugula is a great source of antioxidant vitamins A and C, folic acid, calcium, and magnesium. Ancient Romans used it as an aphrodisiac in spice blends. Lemon are rich in vitamin C, which not only helps to clear acne and leaves your skin glowing, but also helps stop bad breath and aids in digestion. Is there anything that little wonder fruit can't do?

So when my husband volunteered to cook, I happily mentioned that there was arugula in the fridge just begging to be put in his rice salad. About 40 minutes later he's proud of his dish and I'm eating a delicious vegan dinner that I didn't even have to cook.

Rice, Corn, and Cilantro Salad

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 1/4cups water

1 1/2 basmati rice rinsed and drained

1/2 cups chopped green onions (the original recipe only called 1/4c.)

2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen sweet corn kernels
3 handfuls of arugula, stems removed

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Whisk together the 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon juice, 1/4 tsp of salt and black pepper to taste in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the water to boil in a saucepan. Add rice and 1/2 tsp of salt to boiling water; reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender (do not stir), about 20 minutes. remove from heat. Let stand 5 minues and fluff with fork. (see note)

Heat remaining 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and cook stirring about 30 seconds. Add corn and chickpeas and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add remaing salt and pepper to taste, adjust seasoning to your liking. 

Mix rice and corn mixture together in a large bowl and stir in the live oil and lemon vinaigrette. Add the arugula, cilantro, and lemon zest : gently toss. Taste for seasoning, adjust and serve warm.

Note: We don't always follow the rice to water ratio as described above. We use a little less water and our cooking time is 17 to 18 minutes. This seems to be the magic formula at our house for perfectly cooked rice.

 Happy Eating,

Karen