My last issue of Today’s Diet and Nutrition magazine had several rice recipes.  As is my wont, I read the recipes and then pulled out the parts that interested me.  One that particularly struck me was a brown rice patty with a basted egg on top.  It just sounded right.

The premise was simple enough – cold (or at least not hot) brown rice mixed with grated parmesan cheese, formed into a patty, and lightly fried.  When it begins to brown a bit, crack an egg on top, put a cover on the pan, and cook until the egg is set.

And that is exactly what I did.  I added about a half-cup of lightly shredded parmesan cheese to one cup of cooked whole grain brown rice.  And a pinch of pepper.  That’s it.

Two Italian sausages on a bed of sauteed spinach and mushrooms.  No big mystery there.  I sauteed the mushrooms in a pinch of olive oil, added the fresh spinach and let it wilt.  The bread was homemade beer bread from yesterday, toasted and buttered.

It was a really simple meal that had tons of flavors and textures.  But the star of the meal was definitely the rice and egg.

One cooking note is next time I make these I will do them individually in non-stick pans.  I made two of them in a calphalon braiser and it was just a tad awkward getting them out of the pan.  And make a nice indentation in the patty to hold the egg.  I made them, but one egg slid right off, anyway.  The kitchen gods were on my side, though, and I got it back on without a problem.

I see a lot of possibilities with this…