ottolenghi SIMPLE
Making the tomato confit…
Another new favorite dish! This recipe comes from Ottolenghi’s cookbook called ‘Simple’. Each recipe promises to be easy, relaxing and fun to make. If you have never heard of Yotam Ottolgenghi then you are in for a treat. His flavors are truly amazing! Yotam Ottolgenghi was born and raised in Israel but moved to London in the late 1990s. His recipes are influenced by his roots yet in Simple, the Middle Eastern flavors are made accessible in these easy recipes. (This hasn’t always been the case in his earlier books!)
This baked rice dish is so easy to make and I love the warming flavor of the cinnamon combined with the thyme and cilantro (coriander).
The final dish just out of the oven.
This recipe makes enough for 6 as a side or 4 as a main. For my family (only 2 of us will eat this dish!), I halve the recipe.
Ingredients
1 3/4 lb (800g) cherry tomatoes
12 large garlic cloves, peeled
4 large shallots, cut into 1 1/4 inch (3cm) pieces. (or use a yellow onion if you can’t get shallots)
1 1/4 cups (25g) cilantro/coriander stems, cut into 1 1/2 inch/4 cm lengths. Plus another 1/2 cup (10g) leaves roughly chopped to serve.
3 tablespoons thyme leaves
4 small cinnamon sticks
7 tablespoons (100ml) olive oil)
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups (300g) basmati rice
2 1/2 cups (600ml) boiling water
Creating the Magic!
Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Arrange the tomatoes, garlic, shallots, cilantro stems, thyme and cinnamon sticks in a large high sided casserole dish, about 8 x 12 inches (20 x 30 cm). Pour in the olive oil, add 1/2 tsp of salt and a good grind of pepper and place in the oven for 1 hour, until the vegetables are soft. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the rice evenly over the vegetables, without stirring them together, and set aside.
Increase the oven temperature to 450 F (230 C). Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of salt and plenty of black pepper over the rice and then carefully pour the boiling water over the rice. Seal the dish tightly with foil and place in the oven for 25 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Remove from the oven and set aside for 10 minutes, still covered. Remove the foil, sprinkle with the cilantro leaves, stir these very gently into the rice, and serve.
Note: I served this with some salmon and roasted broccoli and it was delicious. The rice has a strong flavor so I would suggest pairing it with something pretty simple.