Marigold

Day 26 of Spicemas

You might be wondering about this one, as I intended. What’s the point of exploring if you don’t venture into territory you are unfamiliar with? Some of you might already have used marigold, or at least have grown it.

Marigold flowers dry to strands of bright oranges, much like saffron. And like saffron, it can be used to color and flavor foods. However, marigolds (a deceptive common name which can refer to both the Calendula spp and Tagetes spp, and both are edible and used culinarily) are far cheaper than the difficult and extraordinary saffron. There was a time when passing off dried marigold as saffron carried with it a penalty of death were you caught and convicted of such.

Marigold isn’t always easy to find in the store, I last bought it at the supermercado imported from Mexico. However, it is easy to grow both calendula and the edible tagetes flowers, and they are fun to use fresh in salads and as garnishes, as well as dried for coloring food, and as you might guess, as dye also.

Tonight for an easy side dish I made rice flavored with marigold, onion, garlic, and paired it with a simple fry-up of leftovers. Simple, elegant, and inexpensive!

Marigold Rice

• 3 c chicken stock

• 2 c short-grain rice

• 1 tsp granulated garlic

• 1/4 c dried sliced onion

• 2 tbsp dried marigold

• 1 tsp salt (less if using commercial stock*)

Mix ingredients together in the rice cooker and set to white rice. I like to quickly open and stir about halfway through cooking (roughly 10 minutes in the cycle) to evenly disperse ingredients.

Serve with a few dried flowers sprinkled on top.

This is a nice, savory and pretty side dish. My husband told me he really enjoys how I give rice flavor. It’s so easy to make, particularly if you have everything ready as I did tonight. Yes, you could omit the dried marigold, but it wouldn’t be as pretty!

Half the amount of marigold I used for this.

Making food good to look at - especially when making a quick meal, using up leftovers, and being creative with what you have in the pantry and fridge - is most helpful to making it appealing. It need not take a lot of time and effort, which is good because I rarely have the first or the energy for the second, this month of food blogging notwithstanding. It’s simply that after forty years of cooking, I’ve learned some things. Efficient comes with long practice. Take your time, if you are new to this, learn how to take shortcuts, but take the long way first, and decide whether short is better.

And just for pretty, an orchid and an amaryllis blooming in my window nook.

*Commercial stock is already heavily salted, generally. When I make stock, I don’t salt it until I’m preparing a dish, so I can season appropriately to what I’m using it to make. Had I made a risotto, finishing it with parmesan, I might not have added much if any salt to the recipe.