Baked Ratatouille Rice
In the BOSH! kitchen, we always find simple ratatouille to be a little boring as a dish, and we wanted to make something truly outstanding. This baked ratatouille rice is perhaps the finest baked rice we’ve ever tasted! First we use confit tomatoes, garlic and herbs with oil, before adding a wonderful selection of veg and rice to create a perfectly flavoured all-in-one dish. This Mediterranean-flavoured dish tastes as good as it looks.
Serves
Ingredients
For the recipe
<item-todo-done>650g cherry tomatoes<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>1 red onion<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>12 garlic cloves<item-todo-done><item-todo-done> small bunch of parsley<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>½ tsp cinnamon<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>½ tsp ground fennel<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>½ tsp Italian herbs<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>100ml olive oil<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>1 aubergine<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>1 large courgette<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>1 vegetable stock cube<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>2 tbsp tomato purée<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>600ml boiling water<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>300g basmati rice<item-todo-done><item-todo-done>5 medium tomatoes<item-todo-done><item-todo-done> Salt & pepper to taste<item-todo-done><item-todo-done> green salad to serve<item-todo-done>
Before you start
Preheat oven to 180°C | 20 x 30cm lasagne or roasting dish | Kettle boiled | Heatproof jug | Tin foil
Prepare the base** **
- Peel, halve and slice the onion
- Halve the cherry tomatoes
- Peel and slice the garlic
- Pick the parsley leaves and set them to one side
- Add the onion, tomatoes, garlic, parsley stems, cinnamon, fennel, Italian herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil to the roasting dish and gently stir everything together
- Put the dish in the oven and roast for 50 minutes
Prepare the topping vegetables
- Trim the aubergine and courgette and cut into 3–4mm rounds
- Cut the medium tomatoes into 5mm thick slices
Carry on cooking
- Remove the dish from the oven and increase the temperature to 220°C
- Add the stock cube, tomato purée and boiling water to a jug and stir until the stock cube has dissolved
- Sprinkle the rice evenly over the roasting dish
- Gently pour in the stock to cover the rice
- Arrange the aubergine, courgette and tomato slices over the rice in sequence, working in a spiral from the outside to the middle, until the rice is completely covered
- Season with salt and pepper, seal the dish tightly with tin foil, put it in the oven and roast for 15 minutes
Finish the dish** **
- Take the dish out of the oven and carefully remove the foil (watch out for steam)
- Turn the grill to max and put the dish underneath
- Grill for 10–15 minutes, until the top has turned golden and lightly crispy
Time to serve** **
- Garnish with the parsley leaves
- Spoon into serving dishes and serve immediately with a simple green salad