This gratin is a great side dish to any protein for dinner and the leftovers can be eaten cold for lunch the next day.
By Jess Lacey
Zucchini and Rice Tian
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This gratin is a great side dish to any protein for dinner and the leftovers can be eaten cold for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
Scale
- 500g courgette
- 50g rice
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons flour
- A pinch of nutmeg
- 100ml milk
- Approximately 75g parmesan cheese, grated
- 230mls liquid
Instructions
- Grate the zucchini and place in a colander.
- Toss well with 2-3 teaspoons of salt and place over a large bowl or pot to catch all the escaping liquid.
- Leave to sit and drain for at least 10 minutes.
- Squeeze the zucchini well to get out the rest of the liquid and dry it a bit.
- Mix 130ml of the liquid with 100ml of milk in a saucepan.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice in plenty of salted boiling water for 5 minutes until it is partially cooked, then drain.
- Saute the onion in a large, deep frying pan with a little oil over low-medium heat for 8 minutes until translucent.
- Turn up the heat for a minute or two to lightly colour the onion.
- Add the zucchini to the pan and cook for 5 minutes or so.
- Turn the heat down, add the garlic and nutmeg and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- Heat the milk/juice mixture gently.
- Stir in the flour and mix well until smooth.
- Take off the heat and slowly stir in the milk/juice bit by bit.
- You may be tempted like me to add in extra liquid, thinking the mixture is too dry and the rice won’t soak it up properly. Don’t!
- Put back on the heat until the mixture is bubbling.
- Remove again and stir in the blanched rice and 2/3?s of the cheese.
- Check for seasoning then pour into a buttered baking dish.
- Top with the remaining cheese and drizzle with olive oil (optional).
- Bake at 220C for about 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and crisp, and the rice has absorbed the liquid.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
