Herbed Brown Rice with Pine Nuts
Nutty brown rice tossed with fresh herbs, lemon and toasted pine nuts — the wholegrain side that goes with almost anything.
Per serving, as written.
Brown rice usually gets served plain and joyless. This fixes that without turning it into a project: fresh herbs and lemon keep it bright, the pine nuts give it a buttery crunch, and the wholegrain brings a nuttiness white rice never has — plus the fibre that makes it sit better than a bowl of white.
It’s a true neutral: nothing here commits it to one cuisine, so it can sit beside almost any main that’s short a starch — the prawns, the salmon, a curry — without a clash. The olive oil and pine nuts are the only things to ease back if you ever need it leaner; the rice and herbs carry the dish.
Ingredients
- 300 g brown rice, rinsed
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 30 g pine nuts
- 1 small handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 small handful fresh dill, chopped
- 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
- salt and black pepper
Method
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan over medium heat until golden, then tip out and set aside — they scorch fast, so keep them moving.
- In the same pan, warm the olive oil and soften the garlic for 30 seconds without colouring, then add the rinsed rice and stir to coat.
- Pour in the stock, season, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on the lowest heat until the rice is tender and the liquid absorbed, about 25 to 30 minutes. Rest off the heat, lid on, for 5 minutes.
- Fork through the rice to fluff it, then fold in the parsley, dill, lemon zest and juice, and most of the pine nuts. Scatter the rest on top and serve.
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