Savory Herb Rice — The 1 AM Bowl That Closed Out 2019

New Year's Eve. The end of 2019. The end of a year that changed everything. Let me list what happened in 2019: I won first place at the Bayou City BBQ Festival. Tyler graduated high school and started college. Emma scored 1380 on the SAT and staged at a professional kitchen. Lily turned fourteen and cooked a dinner party. I launched a pop-up that sold out four times, generating over $20,000 in revenue. The Houston Chronicle put my face on the front page of the food section. My mother's pho was served to strangers who cried. Also: my shrimp boat friend Ray died. My knee got worse. I turned forty-five. I carried a real estate investor's business card in my wallet for five months and didn't call. That's a year. The best year of my cooking life. The year everything I'd been building — for twenty years at the smoker, for ten years sober — came together. New Year's Eve at Ma's. The family. Tyler and Ashley. Emma. Lily. Ma. The digital photo frame scrolling through 2019: the pop-up, the competition, the graduation, the Chronicle photo. The year in pictures. At midnight, Tyler raised his La Croix and said, "To Dad." Everyone raised their cans. Even Ma, who was drinking hot tea but raised it anyway. "To Bobby Tran BBQ," Tyler said. "To the pop-up. To the brisket. To Ba Noi's pho. To whatever comes next." Whatever comes next. That's the question, isn't it? I raised my can and said, "To the team." Because that's what we are. Not a family that happens to cook — a team that happens to be a family. Every member with a role. Every role essential. Ma on broth. Tyler on fire. Emma on everything else. Lily on the future. To the team. To 2020. To whatever comes next. I have no idea what comes next. But the fire is burning and the team is ready. Made chao at 1 AM for the people who were still awake (me, Tyler, Lily). The rice porridge of new beginnings. Warm, simple, enough. 2020. Here we go.

I didn’t want anything complicated at 1 AM — not after a year that had been that big, that full, that heavy in all the right ways. Tyler and Lily were still up, the house was finally quiet, and what the moment needed was something warm and simple and enough. This savory herb rice is what I reached for: fragrant, soft, no fuss, no performance. Just the three of us at the kitchen counter, eating out of bowls, watching the new year settle in.

Savory Herb Rice

Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
• 2 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Sauté the aromatics. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Don’t let it brown.
2. Toast the rice. Add rice to the pan and stir to coat in the butter. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the grains look slightly translucent at the edges.
3. Add broth and herbs. Pour in the chicken broth and stir in thyme, parsley, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
4. Simmer covered. Reduce heat to low, cover tightly, and cook for 18 minutes. Resist lifting the lid — the steam does the work.
5. Rest. Remove from heat and let the rice stand, still covered, for 5 minutes. This finishes the cook and keeps it from getting gummy.
6. Fluff and serve. Uncover, fluff gently with a fork, and top with sliced green onions. Serve warm, straight from the pot.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 285 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 49g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 390mg