I’m sure that every family must have them– those old, tattered recipes for dishes that are so entrenched in family lore it becomes difficult to decipher where the recipe actually came from. A pot of soup, a batch of cookies, or in this case, a one pot supper, that went by the incorrect name of pajama chicken for years.
Pajama chicken sounds quaint to a child’s ears. And to my young ears I figured that this dish was to be enjoyed languishing on a Sunday afternoon in your favorite footsie pj’s– hence the name. But pajama, said quickly in passing, also sounds like Bahama. And Bahama chicken, which I found out years later, was actually the name of this Americanized dish of stewed chicken served over tomato rice and accented with black-eyed peas.
While my grandmother made this dish all the time, I actually have Roxie Roker, television [...]

My sister-in-law doesn’t like rice. What? You may be asking yourself, how can a person dislike something so innocuous. That’s almost like saying you don’t like water– which come to think of it, my sister isn’t all too crazy about. I guess you could say that I come from a family of awkward eaters. But back to rice, well, I love it. And I also adore soup. So what about a meal of soupy-rice? Bring it on!
Warm and nourishing, a stick to your ribs sort of meal that is both homey and satisfying. And it couldn’t be more simple. Like a risotto, only stripped down. Minus the continual, deltoid-building stirring, Risi e Bisi makes a lovely, hot meal, with just a crust of bread, and perhaps a salad to round the whole dish out.
Made with arborio or carnaroli rice, the short-grained [...]