Fried rice is a triumph of resourcefulness. It’s budget-friendly, all leftovers are welcome, and there’s no strict formula or ingredient list, just stir-frying cooked rice with whatever you have around — eggs, scraps of vegetables, seafood, or meat — and seasoning the lot of it with soy sauce and garlic. This single-skillet/wok dinner is ready to be torn into in 10 minutes.
Hailing from East, Southeast and South Asian cuisine, it has absolutely nothing to do with the vague Italian/Mediterranean terroir of these ingredients, but I have for almost as many years as I’ve madeZucchini, Tomato and Rice Gratin(from a 2008 Gourmet Magazine, so: many) wished it could be a kind of wildly inauthentic Italian fried rice too. The original dish is a bit bit fussy as written — two baking sheets, one pot in which to cook the rice, saute pan for the onions and more, followed by a baking dish for the assembled gratin — and while the rewards for this effort are great, the level of effort ensures I make it approximately once every two years, a shame when all of the ingredients are so readily available in August.
This is the weeknight fix version. There are two general approaches to fried rice, one in which the ingredients are cooked separately to help them maintain their distinct flavors and to ensure each reach the ideal color/texture before assembling in the final stage and the quicker way, each into one pan in a layered manner. I made this both ways. The first, with each ingredient cooked to a brown-edged blister, was unbelievably good… and, quite hideous. Were this a photo-less food blog, it wouldn’t be a thing, but alas, it was. I then made it the quicker way and it’s, perhaps, one degree less hard on the eyes but definitely less complex in flavor. But both weredevoured, a filling, delicious bowl of summer comfort food that I expect to be a new staple. I think we all need this for dinner tonight.
Olive oil1 medium-large sweet onion, diced or 1/2 a large onionSalt and freshly ground black pepper, plus red pepper flakes for heat if desired3 garlic cloves, minced1 pound zucchini or other summer squash (about 2 small/medium), diced1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves1/2 cup small red cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick if large, halved if tiny2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked, ideally day old, short-grain white or brown rice1/2 cup grated Parmesan, dividedHandful chopped flat-leaf parsley2 large eggs (for scrambled method) or 4 large eggs (for an egg on top of each portion)
I approached the eggs two ways in each batch, half a frying with scrambled eggs within (more kid-friendly) and half with acrispy fried eggon top (hello, ILY).
