Copyright © 2009 Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Makes about 2 cups and doubles easily. Keeps 4 days in the refrigerator.

1 to 2 large cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 large lime
1 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
6 sprigs parsley (flat-leaf preferred), or 5 large basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil

1. Put the garlic in a medium bowl. Squeeze lime juice over it and let stand 15 minutes while you set the table and pour a glass of wine.
2. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Taste for seasoning and set out in small bowls for dipping in forkfuls of roast chicken.

Serves 4 and halves or doubles easily.

6-quart pot with 5 quarts of boiling salted water
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1-1/2 cups long grain white rice
[optional] 1 sweet yellow or red pepper cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 whole scallions, thin sliced
20 fresh mint leaves, torn (optional)
2 to 3 tablespoons cider [or sherry] vinegar
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Set the pot of salted water to boil (with the turmeric) before starting the mojo. Once it’s boiling, drop in the rice and boil like pasta for 10 minutes. Taste for tenderness. Cook longer if necessary. You want the rice tender, but not mushy.
2. Toss with the remaining ingredients. Season to taste and serve with the chicken.

LYNNE’S TIPS
Take-out roast chicken is my answer to what’s for supper on those too-tired-to-think nights. Many supermarkets put out a fresh batch right about the time people are stopping to grab something on the way home. Check the label and pick the latest one to emerge from the oven. The time should be noted on the label. If possible, go for an organic chicken.

Make a double batch of this recipe and you’ll have mojo for dressing salads and marinating just about anything, including leftover cooked chicken for tomorrow night’s supper salad.

Do use the juice from a fresh orange, not bottled orange juice. It makes a difference.
A dynamite rice salad is the rice as it is cooked in our recipe then dressed with the mojo.
[Optionally add pineapple and/or mandarin orange sections – for more ‘golden’ fruit. ] RY

The chicken we chose was an Albertsons Roast with Basil and Garlic.
The wines that accompanied this meal were the 2008 Parma Ridge Vineyards Gewurtztraminer … a purest’s perfection of spice and fruit, very Alsatian Dry style, an exceptional effort – not many wines accompany oranges in recipes, but this and the 2008 Indian Creek Winery Syringa = ‘Mock Orange’ = Idaho’s State Flower … which has a ‘Syringa bouquet’ and the blend of 60% Gewurtztraminer, 20% Riesling and 20% Chardonnay were really exciting, refreshing and both paired well with the food.

Thank You to Lynne Rosetto Kaspar for the incentive to try this ‘mojo meal’ … we may have to try it with mojitos. Yummmmmo