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Oven Baked Vegetable Pilaff
This is a great recipe for using any leftover vegetables that you have in the fridge. If they have been cooked before they won’t need roasting in the oven, simply add them with the rice at step 3. The pilaff can be moulded into little balls, coated in egg and bread crumbs, shallow fried until golden brown and served with a crisp salad. You can make this a meat recipe by adding 8 boned chicken thighs. Pop them onto the rice, season, drizzle with a little olive oil, cover and cook in the oven at stage 2.
Ingredients show imperial units
Serves 4
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Olive oil
Usually the darker green the oil, the richer the flavour.
- Extra virgin olive oil is good for drizzling on salads and should never be heated as this destroys the fine properties
- Lighter olive oil is good for adding to bread, or to flavour a salad or marinade for chicken, meat, fish or vegetables. Lighter olive oil can be gently heated and added to marinades and baking.
- 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- Salt
Salt
Consider tablesalt, sea salt or crystals.
Sea salt’s pronounced and salty flavour means less is required to season food.
- Ground black peppercorns
Black peppercorns
Best used as a condiment.
They can be lightly crushed and used to spice up a creamy sauce or to coat fillet steak or chicken breasts.- Although it might seem odd, grinding black pepper over a bowl of strawberries enhances the flavour of the fruit.
- Pepper that is pre-ground is not fresh tasting and often has other ingredients mixed in.
- Choose the type of mill that suits you, and if you want coarser pepper you can loosen the screw on the top of the mill or crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
- 250g mixed vegetables such as red or green peppers, cored and roughly chopped, carrots, peeled and roughly chopped, butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
- A little chopped thyme
Herbs
Ideal for seasoning pastas.
To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.
- 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
Stocks
Made from your meat and fish bones.
Frozen in ice cubes for gravies, risotto and cooking rice. Once frozen, remove from the ice trays and pack into freezer bags. Use stock powder or cubes if you do not have any home made available.
- 75g grated hard cheese
Cheese
Add to eggs for omelettes, grate onto soups or salads.
- Parmesan often goes rock hard or becomes horribly sweaty. Ideally, all cheese should be stored in a cool, airy place at a temperature of 46-50F/8-10C. However, most of us put it straight into the fridge. This is fine providing the cheese is kept loosely wrapped in its own airtight container so it isn’t tainted by other foods.
- Store it in the salad drawer, which is not quite as cold as the rest of the fridge and use a micro plane for grating.
- A little chopped parsley
Herbs
Ideal for seasoning pastas.
To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.
-
200g long grain Rice
Rice
Great as an accompaniment or for making risotto and pilaff.
- White long grain rice is good for salads, and its absorbent qualities go well with sauces and casseroles.
- Risotto rice has an incredible capacity to absorb a great amount of cooking liquid and still retain bite, just like paella rice.
- When cooked, basmati rice gives a light, fluffy, separate grains perfect to accompany curries or biriyani and pilaff dishes.
- Rice can replace breadcrumbs in stuffing’s and a few grains can be added to soups to thicken the broth.
- You have to be careful when reheating rice as there is a nasty little bacteria called bacillus cereus which may be present in cereals, particularly rice, and it is resistant to heat.
- It’s important always to cook rice for a hot dish just as you need it and serve it piping hot. If the rice is for a cold dish, once it’s cooked, cool it as quickly as possible and chill within two hours. To do this, drain the rice in a colander, rinse with cold water then tip into a large shallow container. Once it is cold, cover and keep refrigerated for no longer than a day.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) mark 4. Heat the olive oil in a medium ovenproof saucepan or casserole dish and cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes until soft and a little golden. Season with salt and pepper, add the peppers, carrots and butternut squash.
- Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and tender. Remove from the oven and add the rice, chopped thyme and stock, bring to the boil and season to taste.
- Cover with the lid and place in the preheated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the rice is just cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the grated cheese and chopped parsley just before serving.
Note: Rice safety
It's best to serve rice when it has just been cooked. If that isn't possible, cool the rice as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour) and keep it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating. Never leave cooked rice to cool on its own - always chill it quickly for example under running cold water. If cooked rice had been chilled or frozen ensure that it is thoroughly reheated and is piping hot throughout. Never keep rice chilled for longer than 1 day or frozen for longer than 1 month. Once cooked rice has been re-heated, throw away any leftovers. Never re-heat rice more than once.
