So growing up I never really liked rice.  I never found it very appealing, but after a month of living in Costa Rica and sometimes eating it three meals a day, I grew to at least appreciate it.  I still don't love it, but I do like brown rice to a degree and will intentionally eat it on occasion.  With all this new health consciousness out there, brown rice seems to be a far superior choice to white rice anyway.  The only problem I've encountered is that I haven't had a lot of success with cooking rice.  It often ends up unevenly cooked and the liquid evaporates long before the rice is soft enough, but if I add water and cook it longer, it just ends up gummy.  I don't want to buy a rice cooker, because why clutter up my kitchen with a bulky unitasker that I'll only use once every blue moon? 

What's to be done?  Well, the people at America's Test Kitchen have decided that the answer is to bake your rice.  I tried it, and I'm a believer.  This rice came out perfectly cooked and there was an abundance there that I could use for gallo pinto (more on that later), fried rice, or whatever.  It's easy, mostly low maintenance, and, well, it's delicious.  From now on, I will bake my rice. 



Baked Long Grain Brown Rice
from The Best Slow and Easy Recipes, America's Test Kitchen


1 ½ cups long grain brown rice
2 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 tsp. salt

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread the rice in an 8 inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil in a covered medium saucepan over high heat. Once boiling, stir the mixture to combine, then immediately pour over rice.

Cover the baking dish tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil. Bake until tender and no water remains, 60-70 minutes.

Remove the dish from the oven, uncover, and fluff rice with a fork. Re-cover and let rice stand 10 minutes before serving.