Reports in at "a little crunchy"

Here's the Riz a la Vegas. John says it's a little crunchy. Troubleshooting begins.

Special Rice

More accurately known as Riz au Nouilles or Rice with Browned Noodles, this recipe is from Pierre Franey's More 60 Minute Gourmet cookbook and was a staple at our house while you were growing up. (As you know -- thus, your request.) We cooked out of the two Franey 60-Minute books until they are both kind of in fragments. And we used to talk about Pierre and Craig Claibourne back in the day as though they were family members. It was pretty much WWP&CD all the time. So, this is a tasty rendering of the Rice-A-Roni concept and very easy to do. As follows.

Ingredients:

3 Tbs. canola or vegetable oil. Olive oil may be a little overbearing for this recipe, but it'll do fine in a pinch.
3/4 cup broken capellini or thin spaghetti (1-inch pieces or so)
3/4 cup raw rice
1 1/4 cups cold water
Salt

Directions:

1) Heat oil in a saucepan and add the broken pasta. Cook, stirring briefly, until the strands are are golden brown. Do not burn. (It can happen very fast.)

2) Add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Add the water and salt to taste and bring to the boil.

Note: Good idea to have water measured and ready to go when you start browning the pasta. (See "it can happen very fast," above.)

3)Cover and simmer 17 minutes.

Tah Dah!

Yield: 4 servings.