By Second vaccine shot on Friday. The arm hurt more than the first and by Saturday I had a headache and a fever that lasted until late Sunday, which Ryan had warned me about based on his own second-shot experience. I spent most of Saturday on the couch under a blanket watching television and drinking the soup Ryan made me: a simple chicken broth with rice and a soft-boiled egg, which he has been taking notes on from my cooking and which was exactly right in a way that surprised us both. He said he figured you make soup when people are sick, I just did that. I said that is essentially all of cooking. He said huh.
By Monday I was fine and back to meal planning with the specific energy of someone who has been lying still for two days and needs to do something with her hands. I made a whole roasted fish — red snapper from the good fish counter at Jewel, roasted on a bed of fennel and lemon slices with olive oil and herbs, twenty minutes in a hot oven. It is the kind of cooking that looks complicated and is not and costs less per serving than you would think. Ryan, who does not eat fish very often by preference, ate a full portion and said it was better than he expected. That is the vaccine fever turning into health manifesting as appetite, and I will take it.
March 3rd is two weeks away — I will be 26. Spring is two weeks after that. The wedding is three months and change. I keep counting forward because there is a lot coming and it is all good and I want to get there. The second vaccine shot marks a line in the sand for me, a before and after. I have been vaccinated. Ryan has been vaccinated. We are getting married in June. Spring is coming. These facts sit in my chest like a stack of small warm fires, each one lit from the one before it.
The roasted red snapper got all the glory that Monday — and it deserved it — but what I kept coming back to was the rice. Ryan’s sick-day soup had reminded me how much a good pot of rice, made with real broth and a little care, can anchor a meal and a person both. Company Rice is the recipe I reach for when I want something that feels considered without requiring much from me: the kind of dish that says I am back in my kitchen and I am glad to be here, which was exactly what Monday called for.
Company Rice
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 can (10.5 oz) French onion soup
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- Combine ingredients. Pour the uncooked rice into the prepared baking dish. Add the chicken broth and French onion soup, stirring briefly to combine. Season with black pepper.
- Add butter. Scatter the butter pieces evenly over the top of the rice mixture.
- Bake. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid and is tender and fluffy. Remove foil for the last 5 minutes if you’d like a lightly golden top.
- Serve. Fluff gently with a fork, garnish with parsley if desired, and serve warm alongside roasted fish, chicken, or whatever your Monday calls for.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 280 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 30g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 620mg