COOK: One Pot Lemon Vermicelli Rice Pilaf with Artichokes and Greens
- What Greens Should I Use in this Vermicelli Rice?
- What Are Preserved Lemons?
- Make it a Meal!
- Want more dinner ideas?
This easy one-pot lemony vermicelli rice pilaf can be a simple supper or a sophisticated side dish. It’s a tasty combination of toasted grain and fluffy rice that is both delicious and visually appealing, with the bright rice standing out against the contrast of the darker pasta.
Vermicelli (Italian for “little worms”, though it tastes better than that sounds) is a bite-size fine noodle that looks like chopped angel hair pasta, and is commonly cooked with rice in the Mediterranean and Middle East. You will find recipes for vermicelli rice in most Levantine cuisines from Egypt & Lebanon to Greece, and similar pasta paellas as far as the Iberian Peninsula, and anywhere people from those regions have traveled and settled. Taste it and you will see why!
If you’re an American, you’ve probably had this dish packaged and sold in a little box, with the jingle familiar to anyone who had a television in the 80’s and 90’s, as Rice-a-Roni (“the San Francisco treat!”). The story behind this is a true American melting pot story turned into a one-pot side dish. A young Italian-American couple rents a room in post-war San Francisco from Pailadzo Captanian, an elderly survivor of the Armenian genocide who had made her home in the Bay Area, after first escaping to Europe and emigrating to New York.
Pailadzo teaches Lois, the young bride, how to cook some of her favorite dishes from back home (while the young woman’s husband is at work at their small family-owned pasta factory). Her husband Tom loved the dish and experiments in their test kitchen at the factory to develop a shelf-stable version. Their pasta company decides to manufacture and market it as an easy side dish for the harried homemaker, and the rest is history. But you don’t need a box mix (or an Armenian grandmother) to learn how to make vermicelli rice… it’s simple to make from scratch on your own!
What Greens Should I Use in this Vermicelli Rice?
I used chopped fresh lambsquarter leaves in this vermicelli rice dish that I picked while weeding our garden- they’re one of the easiest greens to forage or grow. Lambsquarters are a wild distant relative of our garden chard and beets, and grow like, well, weeds after spinach and other greens have bolted. If you’re going to use them, just make sure if you are that they’re growing in “clean” soil (not contaminated with heavy metals or growing near a busy road), and haven’t been sprayed with herbicide or pesticides.
If you don’t have lambsquarters, you can use fresh spinach, chard, arugula, amaranth, or tender baby kale or other greens. You can also use mature kale, but you’ll want to chop and blanch it first, or chop the stems finely and saute them with the vermicelli just after it starts to color and before adding the rice. You can also use a baby greens blend without lettuce (usually sold as “power greens” or “stir-fry mix”). I would stay away from mustard greens, which are delicious but will overpower the other flavors here. You can use frozen chopped kale or spinach in this as well- thaw partially and chop or break up the package if it’s frozen in one block. Feel free to experiment, using what you have and what is in season and figure out your favorite!
What Are Preserved Lemons?
Preserved or salted lemons are one of my favorite ingredients. I always keep at least one jar in my pantry and make more whenever I start to get low. You can learn how to make your own here, but they do take a little bit of waiting time to be ready to use. What if you don’t have any in your pantry or they’re not ready yet? Don’t worry, you can still make a delicious lemony vermicelli rice. I’ve included some suggested substitutions in the recipe notes that will get you close to the piquant and salty tang that the lemon pickle adds to this pilaf… but I definitely recommend trying it with the salted lemon if you have some on hand (and you should go start a jar if you haven’t tried them or are out- it’s one of the easiest homemade preserves you can make).
Make it a Meal!
Main Dish Mix-in Suggestions & Dietary Variations for Vermicelli Rice
Add diced rotisserie or roasted chicken, pan-seared cod or other white fish, shrimp, chickpeas, or grilled tempeh to serve your vermicelli rice as a hearty one-pot dinner, or just enjoy this dish on its own as a light meal. It’s a flexible formula that complements other entrees as a side dish or can stand alone.
You can make this dish vegetarian by using vegetable stock and base, and vegan by omitting the Parmesan cheese sprinkle at the end. Serve with a side salad, or a mezze spread of olives, roasted veggies, flatbread, and marinated feta, or all by itself. However you pair your lemon vermicelli rice, I think you’ll love it!
Lemon Vermicelli Rice with Artichokes and Greens
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 8 oz vermicelli
- 1 cup jasmine or basmati rice (can substitute regular white long grain rice)
- 1 tbsp preserved lemon, chopped see recipe notes for substitutions
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp dried rosemary, chopped (sub ½ tsp fresh chopped leaves)
- 1 can artichoke hearts, quartered & drained (reserve liquid from can)
- 4 cups Artichoke liquid plus water to make 4 cups (can substitute vegetable or chicken stock)
- 1 tbsp chicken or vegetable bouillon base (I use chicken base but you can substitute vegetable or mushroom stock base to keep it vegetarian)
- 2 cups lambsquarter leaves or fresh spinach, washed and chopped (can substitute amaranth, arugula, or blanched kale)
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- to taste salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 12 oz chopped cooked chicken, tempeh, or chickpeas (optional for main dish)
Instructions
- Have all ingredients measured out and ready to go before you begin- you don't want to step away from the pot to get something you forgot until you add the liquid and cover the dish. Don't worry, it's quick, but you don't want to burn your vermicelli!
- Drain and reserve the liquid from the artichoke hearts, and dissolve the chicken or vegetable bouillon in warm water to make 4 cups of liquid. You can also use stock instead of the water and base, or stock and base for a more richly flavored rice. If you have a large pyrex measuring cup or microwave safe bowl, preheat the cooking liquid in the microwave or in another pot to shorten the cooking time (this is an optional step- you can add the liquid at room temperature).
- Roughly chop the greens and garlic and set aside. Heat a an enameled dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed wide pot with a tightly fitting lid uncovered over medium heat.
- Add the olive oil and when it just begins to shimmer, add the dry vermicelli to the pan and toast for several minutes. Stir the pan until most of the vermicelli is light golden brown and smells nutty and fragrant.
- Add the dry rice, preserved lemon, chopped garlic, garlic powder, and the dried or fresh herbs along with a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste). Keep stirring so the bottom does not scorch.
- Add the artichokes and greens to the pot, and fold them in gently. Once the greens start to wilt slightly, add the cooking liquid (base + water or stock and the liquid from the canned artichokes) and stir well. If you are adding diced chicken or a vegetarian protein to the dish, you can add those now or serve them on the side.
- Cover the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice and vermicelli are almost tender, about 20-25 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered to steam for at least 10 minutes to ensure that the rice and vermicelli are fully cooked and have absorbed all the steam and are tender. Fluff the pot with a serving utensil, top with grated parmesan cheese and more black pepper.