A red rice goes nicely with Mexican food and in the past I’ve relied on this recipe, which is good. I wanted to kick it up a notch though and was making  a larger batch than normal for a wine tasting party so I found this version in one my old standby cookbooks, Desperation Entertaining!.  They said it serves 8 generously but we must not have had that many rice eaters last night, as it served 8 with TONS left over. So I would presume it can serve 12 easily as a side dish. I used a mild jarred salsa and the flavor was excellent.

• 3 cups rice
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 16-ounce jar of salsa
• 1/2 tsp cumin

I used a 3 quart saucepan to cook this in and when I added the liquids it was just 1/2″ from the top so you might want to use a larger pan!

Heat the butter until it melts, then stir in the rice and cook until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Add the broth, salsa, and cumin and stir while bringing to a boil, then cover and cook 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork. If you’re not serving right away, you can cover with a tea towel then put the lid back on.  You can also make it ahead and then microwave to reheat.