LEMON-PARSLEY RICE

Here's the recipe for the lemon-parsley rice that went with the nice chicken roast of a few nights ago. We had about half the rice left over, so last night I added some frozen green beans and peas to it and we had it with a nice chicken stir-fry (recipe to follow). I'm not a fan of white rice -- there's really no nutritional value to it and it raises blood sugar super fast. But Guy doesn't like brown rice. Although this tasted great, I only ate a small portion.

Lemon-Parsley Rice
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Jasmine rice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3-4 saffron threads (optional -- you can leave this out if you don't have saffron)
1-1/4 cups water
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
2 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley

Saute' rice and garlic in oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes, taking care not to burn the garlic. Add salt, saffron and water. Bring to a boil, stir once, cover and lower heat. Cook rice according to package directions (usually about 15-20 minutes) without additional stirring. (Additional stirring makes rice gummy and sticky). Turn heat off when rice is done and allow to sit 5 minutes. Before serving, fluff rice with the zest and parsley. 4 servings, unless you really like rice, then 2 servings.