ARMENIAN RICE PILAF –Basic recipe

Rice Pilaf is a staple of Armenian cooking. It can be fancied up with dried fruits and nuts (for weddings and celebrations) baked in pumpkins (for Thanksgiving) or just basic as in the recipe below.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup quality long grain rice
½ cup vermicelli crumbled into 1 inch long pieces*
½ cube butter
2 cups chicken broth-heated just to boiling
1 teaspoon salt (only if the broth is salt free)
½ teaspoon pepper
PREPARATION: Sauté vermicelli in butter in a heavy pan, until the vermicelli is golden brown. Add rice and stir until well coated, then add chicken broth and mix well. Bring to a boil, cover tightly and then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn heat off and let sit a few minute. Do not lift the lid and let the steam escape. After 10 minutes stir rice gently to fluff. Serve hot.
* I usually break up a package of vermicelli and lay out on a cookie sheet, then brown in a 250 -300 degree oven. Once it cools I either keep it in a glass jar or tightly closed in a ziplock baggie so I have it ready and on hand when I need it. For a variation you can also use egg noodles.