dinner with sid

sid and i have one last sunday dinner before we move to big cities far from here. and far from each other. [pardon the excessive nostalgia that will appear here for a while, the next couple of weeks will be bringing many "lasts"] today and next week i wanted something special. these dinners had started out as multi course meals with side dishes and wine and took on average 3 hours. well the three of us who lived together is now down to one and the dinners are much less elaborate, typically with a main dish, salad and dessert. today it was a green bean salad and a brown rice dish that turned out slightly spicer than i prefer. i am a midwestern girl who was raised on a mix of traditional irish and german cooking. two cuisines that are very low on the spicy/hot scale. well sid is from india and while he always enjoys my meals, asks me when i am going to learn how to cook spicy food. i always laugh and tell him that the food he enjoys makes my eyes water. well, after three years of eating together and two years of me cooking for him, i have finally caved and made a spicy dinner, even if it was a wee bit spicier than i normally like.
Chipotle Merlot Rice
1 sweet italian red pepper
1 onion
1 cup merlot
1 large clove garlic
1 cup dry sweet brown rice
1 t honey
1 can tomato paste
1 T chipotle chili powder
1/2 t chille powder
1 T olive oil

Cook rice according to package directions. About 10 minutes before the rice will be ready, heat olive oil a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions, cook until the onions are translucent. Add the merlot and chilli powders. Stir and add the pepper and honey. When rice is ready add rice and tomato paste. Cook until flavors blend and all ingredients are cooked. This can be served with plain yogurt to cool the heat. This was another creation meant to reduce the quantity of food in my pantry. It ended up quite deliciously.

The greenbean salad was just vinagrette, parmesan cheese and raw green beans. Delicious.