Baked Vegetable Pilaf

I don’t know about you but rice and I have always had a somewhat turbulent relationship. For such a seemingly simple food it is surprisingly hard to get right. Boiling it (even very closely timed and watched and drained) just seems to create a wet mess and it seems very easy to just create a stodgy lump rather than light and fluffy grains. I find when making plain white rice the absorption method works best (2:1 water:rice, bring to boil, turn down and tightly fitting lid for 10 minutes) but even this can go wrong, if you want fail safe rice that can be a meal on its own, a pilaf is just perfect!

I originally got a recipe for pilaf from the Leon cookbook (one of my absolute favourites and continually gives me inspiration, well recommended as a foodie Christmas pressie!) but it’s a dish that lends itself to whatever you have available. Any number of herb combinations work, I have used oregano and rosemary whilst cooking and then mint and parsley to top in this one but bay leaves, sage, thyme, coriander, basil (and many more) also work delightfully and instead of lemon juice you could use lime or even just coarse sea salt sprinkled over. Adding fresh tomatoes at the end of this dish is yet another optional part but added to the fresh herbs at the end just lift it delightfully. I imagine other raw veg would work well too, maybe chopped cucumber or peppers. Even the veg (other than the onion) can be mixed up, try peppers and tomatoes cooked with bay leaves and topped with fresh basil for a more Italian twist.

Ingredients

1 mug rice*

1 onion

Small courgette

1 carrot

1 clove garlic
4 cherry tomatoes

½ teaspoon dried oregano

Sprinkling dried sage

small handful fresh mint

small handful fresh parsley

½ lemon (for juice)

500ml-1lt stock** 

*this should make enough for 3-4 people, depending on how big your mug is
**I used chicken because I prefer the flavour but use vegetable stock to make this completely meat free

I always use my cast iron casserole for pilaf but any heavy pan that can go on the hob and in the oven (with a lid) is fine.

Preheat the oven to about 180. Dice the onion, garlic, carrot and courgette (make the courgette pieces slightly larger than the carrots). In a glug of olive oil sweat the onion and garlic for a few minutes until starting to turn translucent and then add the carrot.

Continue to cook on a medium heat for a few more minutes, moving it all around to ensure nothing catches, until the onion is translucent. Then add the courgette and rice giving it all a good mix to ensure all the rice is coated with olive oil.

Cover with stock, put the lid on and put it in the oven.

After about 20 minutes quickly check whether it needs any more liquid or not (give it a mix as there is often liquid hiding at the bottom), top up if necessary and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes. This will keep its heat for about half an hour if undisturbed (i.e. covered) out of the oven.

When ready to serve, chop up the fresh herbs and tomatoes and sprinkle over the top of the dish before squeezing the lemon over the rice and serve in its cooking dish.