‘Every bite takes you home’.
My best friend asked my now husband how excited he was to be marrying a chef. His answer was that he believed food was fuel and nothing much else. She questioned if I was marrying the right man. Ten years later, he drops recipes on my desk from the guardian, no less, and is more of a food critic than I am.
I guess even if you don’t think you are a foodie, food can be your connection to so many things long forgotten. A memory from your childhood, from a holiday, a date, or from your own learning of success and failure. For me it is all of those and for my husband I guess it is one or two also.
This recipe is from his hometown in Puglia, Bari. It normally has mussels in it, but he requested it to be without. So, we ended up with a lovely vegetarian dish.
Ingredients
- 500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm rounds.
- 2 large shallots, small dice
- 1 garlic clove
- 250g cherry tomatoes, halved.
- ½ tsp. salt
- EVOO
- 100g pecorino
- A handful of minced parsley
- 150ml of vegetable stock
- 200g carnaroli rice
Method
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Soak the potatoes in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes.
- In a bowl mix the tomatoes, garlic, salt and two tablespoons of olive oil.
- In another, mix the cheese and parsley.
- Drain and dry the potatoes and rinse the rice till the water turns clear.
- Select a deep ovenproof dish.
- Start by scattering a quarter of the tomato, onion mix on the base of the dish. Next use half the potatoes to make a spiral layer, then zigzag with olive oil. Follow with another quarter of the tomato mix, a third of the cheese and another zigzag of oil. Sprinkle over the rice then top with another quarter of the tomato mix and then the cheese mix, then zigzag again with olive oil. Pour the stock across the dish. Make a final layer of potatoes, fish with the remaining tomatoes and cheese and a final zigzag of oil.
- Bake for 30 minutes covered with foil and another 15 uncovered so the top browns a little
- Leave it to rest for 20 minutes. The rice will continue to cook and soak up the liquid in this time.
