Rice-a-roni is an oddball food that I have memories of from childhood. I cannot recall why, but I distinctly remember asking my mom to buy rice-a-roni whenever we were at the grocery store. Maybe it was because their marketing campaign in the early 90s was just that effective on elementary school kids, I have no idea. But I do remember toasting the rice and noodles in a pan with butter, adding water, covering, and eating the salty bouillon based rice in a box stuff, and liking it a lot.

Twenty, or maybe close to thirty years later, I bought a box of rice-a-roni on a whim at the grocery store. I was telling Rachel how I used to really like this stuff, and decided that we were going to make some for dinner. We got home and started cooking- I was in charge of the San Francisco treat. 

After opening the box, two things jumped out at me: first, there was barely any rice in the box, and secondly, I was surprised that the rice and pasta mix was just that- white rice and short stubs of pasta. The smaller-than-expected portion size made sense to me, (things are always bigger and more plentiful when you are a child), but the rice mixture really messed with my head. In my mind, I could have sworn there was more to it than just two ingredients. I distinctly remember long grains of wild rice that peppered the otherwise plain looking pan. I was honestly bewildered. Did the product change? Very likely- the box of Rice-a-roni set us back a dollar, which meant it was either inflation proof or they were cutting costs. Was my memory completely wrong? Also a high probability, given the amount of time I’ve had to forget the exact details of a rice in a box meal I haven’t had since childhood.

I set these notions aside and continued making the box of rice-a-roni. The butter toasted noodles and rice smelled familiar, but after adding the powdered base and water, it fell a little flat. After 20 minutes or so, I tasted the finished product. It was a major let down, which may come as no surprise to anyone, but I was confident that it would at least taste like nostalgia. Rachel had a taste and opted to not eat any starch with dinner. I think I ate most of it, maybe in hopes that it would get better. It didn’t.

It was a disappointment, but a good reminder that memory is fallible and often distorted. A few months later, I was braising some turkey thighs and cooking rice in the leftover braise liquid with some onions when it hit me. I needed to make a rice-a-roni from scratch. My thought was to recreate a dish from a flawed memory, one that might not have ever existed. I wanted to make what I remembered, not what I actually had.

So I soaked some wild rice overnight and drained it the next day. I then braised some turkey thighs, strained the braising liquid, sweated some onions and set it all aside. I toasted some broken up angel hair pasta with the wild rice, white rice and butter until the pasta was golden brown and added in the onions, some oregano and the braising liquid. I covered and simmered this until it was done. I shredded the turkey and tossed it in with the rice.

This looked more like what I remembered. Light brown pasta noodles mixed with the black and gray of wild rice with off-white white rice. It smelled like poultry, butter and starch. It tasted like my memories had grown up.

Turkey Rice a Roni

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the turkey:

2 turkey thighs

4 cloves garlic

1 small onion, peeled, halved

2 bay leaves

1 cup wine

1+ quart water

For the rice-a-roni:

1 cup medium grain white rice

½ cup wild rice (soaked in water the day before)

½ cup angel hair pasta, broken into 1” segments

3 tbsp butter

1 tsp oregano

Method

The day before making this dish, soak the wild rice in water.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Strain the wild rice from water and allow it to drip dry in a strainer.

Season turkey thighs with salt and pepper. Brown both sides over medium high heat in a dutch oven or similar high sided pan. Add garlic, onions, and bay leaves, and cook until fragrant. Add wine and scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spatula. 

Pour in water to almost cover the thighs. Partially cover with a lid and bring to a simmer. Cover with the lid and place in the middle rack of the preheated oven. Cook for 2-2.5 hours until fork tender.

Remove thighs and set aside. Strain braising liquid into a measuring cup and set aside.

Shred the meat off the thighs, set aside.

In a high sided, heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter over medium high heat, and add in the wild rice, stirring often for 1-2 minutes. Next, add in white rice and pasta, toast for another 1-2 minutes until pasta is lightly browned, stirring often.

Pour in 3 cups of reserved braise liquid and oregano. If you are short on the braise liquid add some water. Stir and bring to a simmer.

Cover with lid and reduce heat to barely a simmer. Cook for 20-25 minutes until rice is tender. Add the shredded turkey back in and serve.