Veggie Saute

This recipe is really colorful and tasty. Todd and I both went back for seconds. Another nice thing is that if you have a big enough pan, you can make the entire dish in it and not have to dirty a bunch of stuff. The problem with using a pan that big is that you will at some point need something to cover the pan. Ideally, this would be a lid, but if you are like me, you realize that you don't have a lid for your big pan after you've started cooking. In that case, improvise. I ended up resting an inverted pizza pan on top of my big frying pan, and everything worked out.

Veggie Saute

Again, because I'm not baking, some of my measurements aren't precise.

1 Zucchini
2 Small Yellow Squash
1 Yellow Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Large Tomato
1 Can Vegetable Broth
1 1/2 C Instant Rice
1 Clove of minced garlic
Vegetable oil for sauteing
Garlic Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by chopping all of your vegetables. I like big chunks of everything except tomato in this. I'm not crazy about the texture of cooked tomato, but I like the flavor, so I diced the tomato pretty finely.

Throw the onion and vegetable oil in the pan and let it cook over medium heat until the onion is tender. Then, put in the minced garlic. I buy the jars of preminced garlic because it's easier, but mincing fresh cloves would probably taste better. When the garlic looks golden, throw in all the other vegetables. Keep stirring, and add some seasoning.

After about five minutes or so of sauteing your veggies, poor in the broth and the rice. Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover your pan, and let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes. The more you let it simmer, the more tender and juicy the vegetables will be.

Comments

The can of broth that I used was 14 ounces, which is a little under 2 cups. I know with instant rice, you typically use equal parts liquid and rice, but the zucchini and squash will suck up that extra liquid and taste pretty good. If you don't like it, though, find the proportion that works for you.

I liked this recipe, and I don't think I would really change much about it myself. Obviously, it's pretty simple and you could substitute whatever vegetables you have on hand, but I think the squash worked really nicely. If I were to add anything, it might be to grate some fresh Parmesan on top of the prepared dish, but that's just because cheese makes just about anything better.