NEWPORT — Derek Haigwood took a little time to sample a variety of rice dishes before heading back to his Jackson County rice farm to get on his combine.
“To this community, it’s a staple of farming,” he said about the rice. “The ground in the area is suitable for growing rice because of the consistency of the soil, and the ground is really flat.”
To celebrate National Rice Month, the Jackson County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee held a rice tasting at the Iron Mountain Depot in downtown Newport on Wednesday.
Forty-five dishes that had rice as a main ingredient were set out for people to sample. The goal was to show the diversity rice has in cooking and to promote a major industry in Arkansas.
“We wanted to show that rice can be for breakfast, lunch, dinner, parties — rice just goes with everything,” said Louise Runyan, a registered dietitian. “I’m a chocolate junkie, and my favorite dish out there is a crispy-rice brownie. We also have rice and duck, which is a popular thing around here.”
Runyan also volunteers with the Jackson County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, and she said the rice tasting was once an annual event, but this year is the first time the committee has held it in several years.
“Most people in the United States eat potatoes more than rice,” Haigwood said. “But it’s very good for you, and it’s cheaper [than potatoes].”
Haigwood has been farming most of his life, and long-grain and medium-grain rice have always been the main crops of the family farm. He said medium-grain rice is mostly used for cereals, but long-grain rice is for cooking.
“It’s homegrown food, and the heartbeat of this town is agriculture,” he said. “Arkansas is the biggest rice-producing state in America.”
LueDean Drake filled her plate with a variety of rice dishes.
“I was born and raised here,” she said about Newport, “and I’ve eaten a lot of rice. I love it.”
According to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, grains should form the foundation of a healthy diet with 6 ounces per day on a 2,000-calorie diet, half coming from whole grains.
“Brown rice is very nutritious with fiber and B vitamins,” Runyan said, “and white rice picks up the flavors of other foods.”
With its 1.3 million acres of rice farms, Arkansas ranks first among the six major rice-producing states and accounts for approximately 46 percent of rice production in the United States, according to the Arkansas Rice Federation website. Rice is also a big contributor to the state’s economy, with the annual rice crop adding $1 billion to the economy and thousands of jobs that are crucial to rural communities, such as Newport.
Here are the recipes for a couple of dishes that Runyan prepared for the event.
Breakfast Rice Pizza
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce can refrigerated crescent rolls
1 pound ground pork sausage
1 cup cooked rice
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
4 small eggs or 3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions:
Unroll crescent-roll dough and press on bottom and up sides of sprayed 12-inch deep pizza pan; press perforations to seal. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Lower temperature to 350 degrees. Cook sausage, stirring until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain well and sprinkle sausage and cooked rice evenly over crust. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour evenly over sausage mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until crust is lightly brown and eggs are set. Sprinkle with shredded cheeses and bake 5 additional minutes until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges; garnish with chopped tomatoes.
Bethany’s Five-Way Rice
Ingredients:
2 11-ounce cans shoepeg corn, drained
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
5 green onions, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 teaspoons roasted garlic
1 small green pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup cooked tender rice
1/2 cup Rotel tomatoes
1 cup zesty salad dressing
Salt and pepper as needed
Bite-size tortilla chips
Directions:
Combine the first nine ingredients; pour Rotel tomatoes and salad dressing over vegetable mixture and toss gently. Cover and chill thoroughly. Toss again before serving. Serve with bite-size tortilla chips. This dish is good as an appetizer, salad or as a side dish.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.