Baked rice with confit vegetables

Clara Elsewhere:
Page URL

Published on 00 min main spring summer fall winter

I discovered Ottolenghi's baked rice with confit tomatoes and garlic from his "Simple" cookbook, and it changed the way I now experiment with rice. Here is one recipe, but there are endless ways to play with it — swap the vegetables, the spices, the herbs, and you'll end up with a completely new result!

Ingredients

  • Tomatoes, quartered
  • Garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 onions, peeled and quartered
  • 1 cinnamon stick, divided in 4
  • Fresh herbs (e.g. coriander)
  • Dry herbs (e.g. thyme)
  • 150 ml olive oil
  • 450 g rice
  • 900 g water
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

Braise the veggies

  1. Preheat your oven to 160 °C.
  2. Place the vegetables, garlic, onions, dry herbs and spices in a large high-sided casserole dish. Ottolenghi recommends a 20 x 30 cm dish.
  3. Pour over the olive oil, along with a teaspoon of salt and some ground black pepper.
  4. Bake for 45–60 min, or until the vegetables become soft, slightly charred, and fragrant.

Cook the rice

  1. When your vegetables are almost ready, boil enough water to cook the rice. Set aside.
  2. Remove the dish from the oven, and sprinkle the rice evenly over the cooked vegetables — you could also add some fresh herbs at this stage. Don't stir anything.
  3. Sprinkle another half teaspoon of salt, and some ground black pepper over the rice. Then carefully pour the boiling water over the rice.
  4. Increase the oven temperature to 220 °C.
  5. Seal the dish tightly with foil. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the water.
  6. When cooked, remove the dish from the oven, and let rest for 10 minutes, still covered.
  7. Remove the foil. Top with some extra fresh herbs, cheese, nuts, etc.

Adapted from this original recipe