So after a frazzled day of work, a kid practicing independent decision-making on just about everything from dinner to bath to bed, a shocking shortage of wine in the house, and then (yet another) rejection from an editor for one of my manuscripts, the unthinkable presented itself in my mailbox:  a love letter from the Motor Vehicles Commission.

Skip the Trip, it said! Renew your driver’s license by mail! No day-long trip to Zootopia’s Flash, no clearing work schedules or arranging extra child care. The Garden State MVC dropped a touch of unexpected sweetness into my day, which made me think of iç pilav – a rice pilaf with a hint of sweetness from currants, pine nuts, tomato paste, and cinnamon.

Ingredients

• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
• 2 1/2 cups water or chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups bald rice (a short-grain rice, similar to arborio), washed, soaked with a tsp of salt, and drained
• 4 tbspns olive oil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 tbspn tomato paste
• 1/4 cup currants
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbspns finely chopped fresh dill
• fresh Italian, flat-leaf parsley for garnish
• salt and pepper to taste (Anne uses 1 tbspn of salt and 1 tsp of black pepper when preparing with water…if preparing with chicken broth, which is already salted, go less…)

Instructions

1. soak currants in warm water for about 15 minutes
2. in medium-sized saucepan, saute diced onion, pine nuts, and olive oil on medium heat for ~7-10 minutes
3. add tomato paste
4. drain currants
5. add rice, currants, cinnamon, sugar, salt and pepper, continue to stir
6. add water or chicken broth and bring to a boil
7. lower the heat, cover, and simmer for ~15 minutes; all the liquid should be absorbed and rice should be tender, so add additional water if needed
8. stir in dill
9. mold and plate using a small glass dish…remember your sand castles? same idea! pack it in, plop it upside down on the plate, tap with a wooden spoon to release
10. garnish with parsley and enjoy!