My little buddy Kev is sick!

They think he might have mono. Instead of being a cliche big sister and making the “who have you been kissing??” joke, I made a more productive suggestion for all this school time he’s missing.

So rude.

Luckily now I have a NEW BROTHER (in-law) who returned from his honeymoon with my lovely sister on Sunday night. They brought back about 600 bottles of wine, so it was only fair that the GS and I take care of dinner.

The GS had a meal similar to this at work one day. He works in this very cool start-up incubator place with free beer and food! I know. He sent me a picture of his lunch one day and asked me to re-create it. So here’s our attempt!

Forbidden Rice

1 cup forbidden rice

3 1/2 cups water

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped

seeds of 1 pomegranate

3-4 scallions, chopped

2-3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup roasted pistachios, roughly chopped

1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2-3 tbs olive oil

juice and zest of one lemon

1 tsp honey

salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes (optional) to taste

Start by cooking the rice. Combine the rice, water, and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and simmer for a half hour, stirring occasionally, until water is absorbed. Remove from heat, and let it sit for a few minutes. Fluff with a fork.

While the rice is cooking, roast the squash at 425 degrees with some olive oil, salt and pepper until browned. About 10-12 minutes.

Remove the seeds from the pomegranate. Make sure you’re not wearing anything you really like. Luckily I dress like a slob the majority of the time, and this $5 size large shirt from Old Navy wasn’t a huge loss. I should get a rubber apron like Dexter for the next time I work with pomegranates.
Chop up the pistachios, scallions, and parsley. Put them in the bottom of a big bowl with the squash and pomegranate seeds.

Once the rice is cooked, stir everything to combine. My “dressing” was a little balsamic vinegar, juice and zest of a lemon, a few glugs of olive oil, a drizzle of honey, and some salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to combine. We ate this hot, but the leftovers were awesome at room temperature and cold, so you can judge what temperature is appropriate based on your occasion. It’s just so pretty!

We bought four salmon steaks that I seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper on both sides. I seared them on the grill pan on the stove for about 5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the steak. I love how the outside got all crispy. The only disadvantage to this cut is that there are still some bones in there so you have to be careful.

Serve! With wine. And friends.

Kelly said this was her favorite thing I’ve ever made. Kevin is still a picky eater, but I think someday he’ll appreciate forbidden rice. And hopefully the Forbidden Forest as well.

See what I did there??